Chasing Shadows
by Nightheart
Summary: The interwoven destinies of Renji, Rukia, Hisana and Byakuya all converge on a pivotal moment, but the that masterful manipulator Aizen pulling the strings can even their cooperation win the day?
1. Chapter 1

Sometimes ya just wanna go where nobody knows your name... in my case there was a reason for it. I didn't want all of my friends (not to mention the younger squad members who looked up to me as their Lieutenant) to see me making a general ass of myself by drinking myself into a puking stupor. My Captain was as nose-in-the-air as they came, and on a good day he was _only _supercilious, the rest of the time he came off goddamn condescending. If he caught wind of me lowering my exalted status as his second-in-command by drinking in a common sake house like a ruffian, I'd get a lecture on Proper Decorum As Befits A Lieutenant Of The Thirteen Court Guard Squads... and if anyone could manage to speak in capitol letters it would be Byakuya Kuchiki of the Noble House of Kuchiki. Or rather, I'd get a lecture from him if I was lucky and he was generous, more than likely he'd probably just give me that Look, the one that said he was wondering what he had ever been thinking taking a mongrel stray dog like me in as his Lieutenant and expecting me not to act like the rowdy I was.

:_Pompous ass_,: I thought sourly as I knocked back another shot of the clear liquid that smelled like astringent and burned like acid fire. This sake, purchased from one of the tumbledown shacks that served as sake-houses here in the Rukon District, was clearly brewed in the moonshine method. You could use that stuff to strip paint, or burn a hole through cement; but it was cheap, it was strong, and there was plenty of it, and right then that was all I cared about.

"Leave it," I said when the barkeep came round with another bottle to top off my cup.

He took one look at my attire of tattered and worn cloak (to cover my Soul Reaper uniform) and hood and cowl ( to hide my hair and distinctive tattoos) and quickly concluded that I wasn't someone he wanted to argue with. Not that he'd have any trouble holding up his end of an "argument" with any of the Rukon toughs that practically lived in places like these... Rukon barkeeps could have all been cloned from a single man so similar were they in form an demeanor. Blank, stoic faces, shoulders like oxen and arms like tree-trunks with which to smash in the heads of any man trying to cause trouble (or dodge payment) in his bar were the earmarks of a Rukon District barkeep.

:_Who knows_,: I thought with a dull humor creeping around the edges of the alcohol and black despair. :_Maybe they were_.:

If all the rumors about that creepy captain of the Research and Development Squad and his odd little leiutenant were anywhere _near _accurate then it wasn't impossible that the Rukon District _was _staffed by a clone army of barkeeps.

I measured out a small cup full of the new bottle and knocked it back, feeling it burn its way down my throat.

"So which is it?" the barkeep asked, setting himself down at the table I'd grabbed in the back, far away from the rest of the crowd. I blinked a little, taken a bit aback. This specimen was obviously a little more social than his fellow clone brethren.

"What?" I asked, irritated by the non-sequiter.

"Job, money, or woman?"

"Woman," I grunted, knocking another back to soothe out the sharp, jagged, cold spike of loss I felt at the reminder of her, of what would never be-

Another drink.

"Hn," the barkeep grunted. "The most common of the lot of 'em. I swear sometimes I think they were invented to keep us barkeepers in business."

He cracked a wry smile at his own joke and added.

"And to test men's souls to the limit."

I'd drink to that. I saluted him with my cup in agreement with his statement and felt a little more of that heated numbness seep into me from the afterburn.

"I don't think I've seen you around, boy," he said. "You new here?"

My stray dog instincts, born and honed here on the rough streets of the Rukon District, warned me that this could be a loaded question; he _could _be just idly curious, but it was more likely he was fishing for information, trying to find out whether my purse, so generous until now, could stand to be forcibly lightened... and if anyone in the tattered patchwork of gangs and alliances there in district fifty-two was going to take revenge for me. There were a number of barkeeps who wouldn't have any qualms about lightening the load of a financially solvent drifter or two, and even less of a problem with directing various members of other gangs there-abouts to do the lightening, for a small fee of course. In Rukon, information was the coin of the realm more often than not.

"Just passing through," I said shortly, my tone conveying that I didn't want to talk about it.

I wasn't ready to talk about anything. However, the subtle sliding of my cloak to one side to reveal the well worn and very obviously high quality hilt of Zabimaru said all I needed to say. Zabimaru was sleeping right then and in his quisceint form looked just the same as any other sword (better than most of course) so it wouldn't give away my origins; more than likely the man would think me nothing more than another Rukon tough, or perhaps a mercenary or assassin, but nothing more than that. I wasn't eagre to enlighten him about my true nature. Soul Reapers were not exactly _beloved _out here in Rukon, most of the souls on this side of the fence either didn't care one way or another or actively _disliked _them.

I remembered well my own resentment toward those distant, faceless numbers who lived safe behind their precious walls and barriers. I remembered how I had resented the fact that they lived in a world apart from the one I knew, the world where everyday was a new challenge to find a way to scrape up enough food to live to see the next one. A world where the run-down, leaking roof over my head was defended tooth and nail from any other person (older-boy or adult) who might try to take it. Where there was never enough heat in the winter, or medicine when one of my own got sick, where the rags of our clothes were all more thread and hole than cloth. A lot of us Rukon kids day dreamed what it must be like to live in a place where they serve you all the food you can eat and you never have to worry about whether or not the next storm will bring the roof in on you or of the next bout of summer fever will be your last.

:_There are still some times when I hate them for it, just a little bit_,: I thought to myself.

I hated the wall, the attitude of Us and Them, the condescending pity that even my own best friends felt toward all of those outside, when they bothered to think of them at all. But every time I felt a small pang of anger burn in me at some casual off-hand remark about the poor bastards who had the misfortune to live in the Rukon District, I felt an even greater one aimed at myself.

I don't know what I expected to be able to do about the sad way everyone in the lower districts was forced to live but something in me was ashamed of the fact that I hadn't done anything. I lived day in and day out, fighting Hollows, doing my duties as the second-in-command of the Sixth Squad, trying to reach a goal that was, by now, _completely _out of my reach, and before I realized it another year had passed. I'd go visit my friends graves on the anniversary of the day I left them and that life behind to follow Rukia into a new world and it always made me think that despite all of my personal sucess, nothing had changed at all.

"Strange days these," he said in a ruminating tone.

"Waddaya mean?" I asked unsteadily, pulled out of my inner thoughts by his remark.

"First all that to-do with the Ryoka invading, wild rumors flying about it and those folks at the big house don't make any sort of announcement or nuthin'. Then next we know there's Hollows around every corner an' not enough Reapers to keep 'em all down."

Ah yes, first that debacle with those bastards Gin and Aizen trying to kill _her _to get at that damned hogyoku and Ichigo and his friends rescuing her (when I couldn't). Naturally, after the arrancar battle the Seireitei was going to great lengths to keep things quiet.

"Been awful quiet up there on the hill lately," he added.

And succeeding, apparently.

"Yeah," I said, not really because I agreed with him but because it seemed like he expected me to make some kind of comment.

"You're a quiet one," he noted.

I smiled a little dryly to hear that, because most people who knew me, either in person or by rumor, had me pegged as a loud-mouthed punk. I picked up another shot of sake and downed it without a word.

"So what's 'er name?" the barkeep asked.

I debated not saying anything but then decided, what the hell, he wasn't going to be talkin' to anyone.

"Rukia," I replied.

Right at that moment I couldn't have handled saying her last name, it was bad enough that I knew she was out of my reach for good, reminding myself that she was now adopted nobility and I was still nothing but a jumped up street cur would have just been pouring salt in the wound.

"Nice name," he said. "What's she like?"

How did you describe perfection? She was a thousand contradictory things all made into one person; cool and passionate, brave and vulnerable, powerful and frail... she was my summer and winter. She was my whole world. She was my goal, my unattainable star, I would have (and had) walked right into hell for her sake, I'd follow her anywhere just so I could be by her side.

"She's amazing," was all I said.

"Well, you're not the first man who's walked in here lookin' for a bit of the _bottled numb_ on account of a woman and you won't be the last," the barkeep answered to that. "From what I can tell the breed always seems like they're more trouble than they're worth. Heartache, pain and misery follow in thier wake and that's the honest truth. But... it's also true that they can change the colors of this awful place from drab to glorious with just a smile. One look from that special lady has the power to make this horrible life into something more than just somethin' you bear with every day; they make it special."

I hadn't realized it, but I'd been unconsciously nodding at what he was saying.

"Now you gotta decide if that wonder you get when your lady looks at you and smiles is worth all the trouble that comes along with 'er."

I snorted at that.

_:Some decision_.:

I downed another drink and nodded at him in a partly friendly manner. He at least had the basics down, even if he didn't really understand the situation.

I couldn't tell him about the real situation, how I'd loved her from as far back as I could remember. How we'd grown up together, gotten into messes and out of scrapes, always knowing we could depend on each other for a rescue if needed. How we'd turned these mean streets into something like a home, and a motley collection of street kids into something like a family. How our family had faded away one by one until only we remained and how I'd followed her into the Soul Reaper Academy. She was going to go anyway, her mind was set on it, and I couldn't let her go alone, she was all I had left and she was my whole world, so I followed her. The academy had been another world for us, a world filled with nobility and incomprehensible (often stupid) rules. It felt a little bit like expecting a fish to fly sometimes but we stuck through it together and eventually carved our own places out. Even though we'd been separated by classes (me in the advanced and Rukia in the regulars) we'd managed to keep a close relationship all throughout the years it took us to graduate... until _he _showed up.

:_Bah_!: I scowled hard at my drink, the merest reminder pricking at a continuously sore wound and calling up old and unwanted memories of that day.

I'd just passed my second exam and I was bursting with the news to share with my best friend in the whole world. Sure, by then I'd had other friends in the academy, but she would always be first in my heart. I recalled now how excited I'd been, almost flash-stepping (which was against the rules on academy grounds unless in the training ring) in my eagerness to find her and tell her about it. But then they had appeared before me in the place where they shouldn't have been... a collection of noblemen. I'd recognized them by their distinctive hair decorations of course, someone from one of the Great Noble Houses was visiting Rukia. I remembered feeling surprise and then worry when I saw the look if numb shock on her face. My first thought flashed to Zabimaru, the sword I was just beginning to build a rapport with, my instinctive mistrust of the aristocracy prompted me to think if they'd hurt her in any way then, nobility or not, they were gonna regret it. It turned out to be even worse however, they hadn't wanted to _hurt _Rukia, they wanted to make her _one _of them.

I remember how my whole being had seemed to seize up for one instant in dismayed denial. Rukia was my closest and truest friend, the only person I really trusted in the whole world, they couldn't take her from me! Sense reasserted itself an instant later and bonked me on the back of the head telling me not to be so selfish. Rukia was finally going to get everything she deserved, fine clothes, food, a nice place to live... all the things I couldn't give her. And they wanted to make her part of their family, she'd finally have a _real _family, not just some cobbled-together gang of runaway toughs scrabbling for food and shelter. How could I stand in the way of that? I couldn't, not and call myself her friend. So I forced myself into doing the hardest thing I'd ever done, then or since, I forced myself to smile and congratulate her and act like this was the best thing ever (even though to my lights it was anything _but_). I _desperately _hadn't wanted to let her go, everything in me had screamed to hold on to her no matter what... but the one thing I would _never _do was put myself forward when Rukia's best interests were at stake. I hated it with everything in me, but for her happiness I'd let her go.

_:Except that I'm a lot more stubborn and stupid that even i had given myself credit for_,: I thought morosely into my drink.

On returning to my barracks and staring up at the ceiling, feeling a gaping hole in my life where Rukia had fit just an hour ago; a sudden, crazy, irresistible thought occurred to me. I'd seen her tears flicker in the air as she'd walked past me, and part of me knew that the decision I'd made might have been the wrong one. I couldn't reverse it, but there had to be something _else _I could do. In the Academy I wasn't best known for thinking things through and strategizing (rather the reverse being true), but that didn't mean I was _incapable _of it, it just meant that I didn't waste energy on the stupid stuff. However, I'd _been _a street kid, a gang leader no less, and no-one who had that kind of responsibility, even if it was by unspoken agreement, got it by being stupid.

There were _ways _things were done in Hangdog, certain ways to get status in the ever-changing pecking order on the streets. The cunning and the strong could carve out places where they were respected, and any kid who survived for any length or time became instinctively aware of the rules. The mean streets of Hangdog you had to be tough and smart to get by. I applied my street dog survival instincts to the problem before me. The Kuchiki Clan were second to almost none when it came to power and influence in the Seireitei, but there were other ways to reach a level that was roughly equal to that. So then, if I wasn't _born _into the nobility, and no clan in their right minds would want to adopt a mangy street cur like me, then I'd just have to carve out my own niche there at the top. If Rukia as a Kuchiki was forever out of the reach of a mere low-ranked Soul Reaper, then I'd just have to _fight _my way to get to where she was.

It seemed a little silly now, but it had been important then... I drawn out my sword Zabimaru and ran my thumb along his edge, my blood welling up and running down his still-quiescent blade ( Zabimaru had yet to introduce himself to me then).

"Listen up and listen good," I told it fiercely, standing alone in the middle of my room. "You an me, we're gonna get to where she is. No matter _what _it takes, no matter _how long_ it takes, we'll _claw _our way there. We're gonna be by her side again. If there's an obstacle in the way we're gonna smash through it. Ya hear me?!_ I swear it_!"

That was the first time Zabimaru ever roared.

"Was it all for nothing then?" I wondered to myself.

I recalled how I'd pushed myself. Second place was never acceptable to me anymore, I had to be the _best_. I went back and retook my first two exams, no longer satisfied with merely passing them. I'd gotten a Seat, Twentieth Seat (the lowest) right out of the academy but that wasn't good enough. I pushed myself. I completed every task set to me and then some (even if my methods were a little unorthodox sometimes). I bulled right through the Hollows, Zabimaru and I sliced them up like cutlets. On every battlefield I was the first to enter it and the last to leave it. I practiced and trained zealously when I wasn't out on assignment, pushing myself to get better, stronger, more powerful. I asked for extra training, Ikakku from Squad Eleven even took me on to teach me a few things. Even when Izuru and Momo told me I should calm down and take a break I never let up. Even when I was exhausted and trembling, I would let myself give in.

:_I'm sure Captain Unohana got tired of seeing my face getting dragged in every other day for exhaustion or injury from those "training exercises" I took out against live Hollows_,: I thought wryly.

I knew for certain that she had a special lecture memorized just for me.

I climbed through the ranks, but slower than I would have liked. First Eighteenth then Sixteenth Seat in Squad Three, then Fourteenth Seat in Squad Seven, then Thirteenth in the same squad, then Twelfth in Squad Two (the ninjas thought that my unusual skill in tracking was something they'd find useful) then I got promoted to Tenth Seat in Squad Eleven, then up through Ninth Eighth and Seventh Seat in the same squad. It took me a number of years but I made it to Sixth Seat back in Squad Five where Aizen promoted me to Fourth Seat. At last a Third Seat position opened up in Tenth Squad and I found myself serving one rank under Rangiku Matsumoto... who promptly pushed all of her unfinished paperwork off onto _me_, knowing full well how very desperate I was to master all areas related to _finally _attaining the rank of Vice-Captain. Call me suspicious, but I don't think she gave me the paperwork to help me master the fine art of bureaucracy.

I worked worked myself hard, struggling to acheive through pure strength and detirmination whatever I hadn't been born with naturally. It was embarrassing, but I even asked Captain Unohana to teach me upper class etequiette. If _that_'s not devotion, I don't know _what _is. But even so, making my way through the ranks on merit alone, without influence or family connections... it's not a swift or sure process. I'd lose a few years here, a decade there, another few years here proving myself over and over again, showing that just because I wasn't high born and just because I'd been an uneducated street dog from the second lowest province in the Rukon District, didn't mean that I could be dismissed out of hand.

The years passed. I barely ever got to catch a glimpse of Rukia and then it was only at a distance. I was powering through the ranks at a rate unheard of from someone of my background and situation but I was still so far away from her. I watched sadly as the Rukia with the wide smile and enthusiastic attitude was slowly reformed into someone I barely recognized, someone remote and distant as a star. Her manner and bearing became queenly but a little cold, just like his. Her face never wore an expression anymore, and I had always thought of Rukia as being very open and expressive. She never seemed to smile or laugh... just like the ass who'd stolen her away from me. He was making her into a little copy of himself and all I could do was stand by and watch! It pissed me off to no end, and I swore that when I could finally stand next to her as an equal that I'd bring back her smile. I'd bring back to old Rukia I once knew. The Rukia who smiled, and teased me about my red hair and yelled at me for waking up late (even though it was _her _fault in the first place) and agrued with me over who got the last slice of bread for breakfast. I made a mistake in letting her go, but as soon as I made Vice-Captain (which was a rank acknowledged to be roughtly equal to the lesser nobility in the Seireitei) I was going to fix it and bring her back to me.

Except that someone else beat me to it.

I considered that for a long moment staring down into the depths of my little saucer of sake as though it were a scrying bowl that would let me divine a way out of this situation I was in.

Forty years wasn't long as Soul Reapers reckoned time, and two moths was barely an eyeblink to some of them. It was long enough for a backstreet nobody to force his way by sheer power and grit alone to the position of Vice Captain and short enough for everything he'd worked for to be pulled right out from under his nose. I felt bitterness and despair well up in me again and fought them back.

The battlefield I was fighting on wasn't something I could smash through with my sword. The battlefield of the heart wasn't about who was stronger or more deserving. The heart did whatever the hell it wanted, and the rest of you was left to follow along after it. There was no way to force a persons heart into loving someone or not loving someone. There was nothing I could do. I had already lost.

I picked up the bottle and downed about half of it in one large gulp. It burned good.

So here I was, Vice-Captain, Espada Slayer, one of the very few officers that had unlocked their Bankai ( you could probably count the others who had managed the feat on one hand). A stray dog from the Rukon District was holding a distinct possibility of being promoted to Captain of a squad... and I felt like the most _miserable _man alive. I didn't _want _to be Captain, and the damned Vice-Captain rank I'd pushed myself through hell to acheive meant _nothing _to me without her.

In that moment I was simultaneously so filled with sorrow I wanted to crawl into the bottle and never crawl out again, and so filled with rage that I wanted to pick a fight with the nearest thug and let it escalate until we wrecked the place and I was the only guy left standing. Of the two options I naturally liked the second one better. I was even looking around for some poor likely-looking bastard to set things off with when that last little bit of sense still hanging around me chose that moment to assert itself. It told me I had way more power and training than every thug in that whole province put together and that if i picked a fight with any of them I stood no chance of feeling satisfied and someone might wind up dead. I looked around me and found to my dismay that I was right; if I wanted a good fight, I wasn't gonna find it here.

I refilled my saucer of Sake and stared down into it. I'd been down before (frequently in fact) but I'd never been down and out. What the hell was I supposed ta do now?

* * *

**Here it is, Chapter One. You all might want to get comfortable, we're in this one for the long haul. I want to thank everyone who's been reading and reveiwing my previous stories that I've posted for Bleach so far. I hope you'll tell me what you think of this one, I know it seems like poor Renji gets to be the odd man out again but sometimes a little pain is necessary for personal growth... besides, you have to admit that he lends himself just so well to angst that it's almost impossible to resist. So, please tell me what you think about this one and look forward to the chapters to come. **


	2. First Whiff

"Hey, maybe you should get going," one of the thugs at the table closest to mine muttered to his companion for the night. "You know that that guy from the next sector over said about that thing being on the move."

I frowned;

_:What thing? More trouble in the Rukon District? Maybe a good fight?:_

"Ah don't be such a coward," the first man scoffed. "That's nuthin' but a kids story those brats tell to scare each other. feh! Comin' outta the dark!" He spat on the floor to demonstrate his disdain.

"I don' know about that Kawaki, you know how else to explain how all these people keep disappearin' an no-one knows where they disappeared to?"

"So someone _helped _'em disappear," the guy replied with a careless shrug. "Business as usual, 'e's just better at it than most."

"If it was someone helpin 'em disappear," the guy insisted. "Then it would have only been local thugs, that's the way it's done, but it's all types in lotsa places but mostly kids."

I frowned at that, I didn't like the sound of this one bit. I was a former Rukon kid myself and I knew personally that life was hard and precarious enough at it was for them without someone going out of thier way to kill them off. Secondly, I agreed with what that guy said, killings an assassinations when they weren't done in passion or as a result of a fight gone wrong, were nearly exclusively done to gain status and carve out territory in the Districts. The more a persons name was feared, the more respect he was given, but in order to get that respect a person had to take on people who were already strong. Attacking kids, who could barely survive as it was, would have the opposite affect; Rukon thugs might not give a rats behind about feeding and taking care of the kids in thier turf, but if anyone threatened those that were considered "thiers" they'd have a world of hurt coming to them.

"It's justa rumor," the other guy maintained, more interested in his bottle than about the possible disappearences of children. "Kids disappear all the time."

:_A low-rank hanger-on_,: I judged apprasing the man who coldly assigned them to thier fate. :_Or else he'd be more concerned about some new guy invading his turf_.:

"Where there's smoke there's fire my friend," the first one said decisively. "Street rats don't survive without keepin' one ear to the ground, and if something's killin' 'em off and they're scared enough to be tellin' ghost stories about it... well... You can do what you like but I think I'll take the rat's advice. Don't get caught out after dark or the Shadows'll getcha."

His companion snorted at that as he stood up from the table and made his way over to the door.

I frowned again, puzzled by the new info. It was a rumor I hadn't heard before and something about it set my hackles up, but I already had a purpose in mind for that evening and anything else could wait as far as I was concerned. I turned back to my drink and considered the quandary about where I was gonna find a good fight.

Well... there was always another Hollow. Maybe I'd just nip on out to the world of the living and track some down. Half the reason I was a Vice-Captain at all was my ability at tracking, it wasn't a boast to say that I was the best tracker in the whole Seireitei. Like a bloodhound, once my nose was on the scent I couldn't be shaken.

:_Speaking of scent_,: I thought, frowning in puzzlement as my keen senses picked up something. It was a familiar aura, one that I recognized, but it definately wasn't putting off a _good_ feeling. In fact the feeling I was picking up was that it felt remarkably like what _I_ was going through right then.

"Hellloooooo boys!" a woman's voice slurred in a sing-song as the doors to the run-down bar were pushed open.

By any man's standard she was _hot_, she was also a Vice-Captain in the Soul Reapers. And very, _very _drunk.

"Barkeep, I'll have yer finest," she announced as she plopped down into a seat and put her head on the table like it was too heavy to hold up anymore. Without a word the barkeep left a bottle on her table and it was maybe a heartbeat after that that the vultures began to circle.

"Heya sweetie," one of the unwashed drunks already in the bar stood up and leered appreciatively down at her very ample bosom.

"A pretty girl like you shouldn't be drinkin' all alone," another, crowding in on the other side of her chimed in.

"We'll be more than happy to keep you company," a third assured her.

The three of them shared a look that needed no translation. My lip curled up.

"Don't hog her all to yourselves you guys," another man, all but rulling under the table from his drink slurred in. "The rest of us wanna chance to..." He trailed off into a snore. Good, one less to worry about.

I rolled my eyes a little as I reluctantly rose from my seat and silently made my way over. Better to nip this in the bud than have to clean up later, I supposed. There went my evening. I slammed my elbow none-too-gently into the guy on the left of Rangiku Matsumoto and promptly took the chair he'd been about to occupy. I set my bottle down in front of me.

"Rangiku," I said in a gruff greeting.

I was gruff, of course, because she was an unlooked for complication in what I had planned to be my _own _night of drinking. She was ruining my night, but I couldn't let the situation develop either, we'd fought back to back more than a time or two and even if she was a flake, she was still one of my fellow lieutenants. I didn't like it, but I was stuck for it, I had to keep an eye on her, she wasn't sober enough to keep an eye on herself.

"Why it's Ren-ji!" she exclaimed in that way that told me she was just nearing the other side of tipsy, and would exclaim happily over _anything_, even if someone told her there were Hollow's invading the Seireitei.

"Hey you!" the man I'd decked previously yelled at me, recovering. "Whaddya think you're--"

He shut up when my fist slammed into his face again.

"What're ya doin' here? This ain't no place for you, go back and drink in yer rooms if yer gonna git drunk," I grumbled, drink and stress making me loose the speech I'd developed to fit in and slip right back into street-dog's cant.

"They cut me off," she said piteously. "And then the first few places I went they threw me out when the guys who offered to pay for me wouldn't pay. I figured I'd go someplace cheaper."

I rolled my eyes heavenward. All the two-bit gin-joints in all the Rukon District and she had to walk into mine.

"You can't just treat our friend like that," one of the others at the table informed me, cracking his knuckles.

"We was lookin' forward ta havin' a gud time t'night and we don' want no punk in a cape ruinin' our fun, got me?" the other punk said, drawing himself up to look more impressive.

I mentally debated the satisfaction of just knocking the both of them to the floor right then and there, but the barkeep had been nice to me so I owed him one.

I nodded at the barkeep and held up three fingers, jerking my head to the table the three thugs had previously occupied before Rangiku showed up and they'd vacated their chairs like someone had lit the seats on fire. The barkeep understood and promptly set three bottles on the table.

"Sorry about your friend," I said. "My hand slipped. Twice. To make up for it, why don't you three boys have a drink on me while my friend and I have a little chat."

Their faces warred for a long moment, and it really said something about the three of them that they all decided to crawl right over to where thier drinks waited. A bottle over a beautiful woman, now I'd seen everything.

:_Definitely low-rank hangers on_,: I thought disdainfully. :_Any thug worth his title would've made somethin' of it for challenging his authority on his own ground_.:

"They're sure acting friiiend-ly," Rangiku noted in a drunken little sing-song. The three thugs were back at the table happily gulping down on the sake I'd bought them and smiling over at us like nothing had happened. I grunted with soft cynicism.

"Easy to make friends in a bar," I told her. "Buy 'em a drink, they're yours for life."

"Sooo, truuuue," she agreed happily. She seemed to look at me oddly for a minute and then said

"How many drinks to make you my friend for life?"

"You should head back," I said bluntly, already wishing she was gone so I could get back to what I was doing. Namely, brooding and wallowing in my own misery.

She didn't say anything, but she did try to pour herself a new cap full. She sloshed most of it on the less than immaculate table but as soon as she managed to fill her cup she emptied it.

"I'm serious," I persisted, partly out of concern and partly because I wanted her out of my hair. "This place is a little rough."

"I c'n take care of myself," she proclaimed at me, thumping her bottle for emphasis. "I'm going to have to now, since all men are unreliable pigs."

Great, it was worse than I thought. How did I get myself into these things? I should have just let her drink herself unconsci--

"Whoahwhoawhoa, hey!" I exclaimed, grabbing the bottle away from her. She grabbed the whole thing and started chugging it like it was milk!

"Gimme!" she whined reaching for it as I held it away from her.

"Don't chug!" I admonished her. "It's disrespectful to the booze if you drink it like that."

"I don't care about respecting the booze, if i don't get any respect why should it?" she moaned. "It's so unfair!"

"Whaddya talkin' about," I grumbled. "Lotsa people respect you. You're a lieutenant."

"I w-wanted to be h-his lieutenant!" she exclaimed, mood suddenly swinging unpredictably from sullen to on the verge of tears without warning.

:_This is why I never go drinking with women_,: I snarled to myself. :_A woman is unpredictable enough when she's sober, it's ten times worse when she's drunk_!"

"Why'd he have to leave meee!" she sobbed, reaching for the bottle again.

I let her have it. She cradled it to her sizable breast like a new mother might hold her child, weeping all the while. She polished it off and motioned for another. I'd heard the rumors about her and Gin Ichimaru, I also knew that she'd been the one to turn him in. Lord only knew what he'd said to her, what kind of twisted mind games he'd played, to get her to let him go. Of the two of us, she was definately the worse off right then.

"Why couldn't she have gone drinking with her girlfriends or something though!: I thought irritatedly to myself. :_Then they could at least have spent the evening consigning all men to the depths of hell for their depravity. What the hell am I supposed to say to make her feel better?!_:

I couldn't really say that all men were pigs because _I'm_ a man. I didn't have the right to say that the former captain Ichimaru was a pig because I kinda thought that might make her mad right then; sure she knew he was a pig but she was still in love with him so hearing someone else insult him might just piss her off instead of making her feel better. Better not go there.

"Barkeep, she'll have another," I said instead.

So I sat by silently while she polished off bottle after bottle, slipping further and further into Inebriation Land. She alternately cried until her eyes got red and puffy, then railed against the unfairness of it all, then informed me that all men were unreliable, backstabbing pond scum. It irritated me, but I sat by in mostly sober silence and let her do whatever. A few brave souls tried once or twice to approach her but the first party got a good look at her uniform and lieutenants badge and promptly fled (Rangiku hadn't had the foresight to bring a cloak to keep a low profile) and the other group, not being so observant, had to be politely scared away by Zabimaru. Even in his quiescent form the wear on his grip and sheath spoke volumes about the fact that I'm a capable fighter. An hour later our table top was host to a sizable collection of sake bottles and I kinda had to give her respect for being able to hold her liquor.

:_But seriously, how much more of this can I take_?: I wondered when, and hour after that, I was _still _the captive audience to a drunken rant that was only partly comprehensible through the alcohol.

"...and I don't know who's responsible for him but someone shoulda told him you don't treat a girl like me that way! Does he even know how big my fan club is? I could have any guy I want in the whole Seireitei but I devoted myself senselessly to him and he has the nerve to not only betray the whole Seireitei but ME personally! I hate him for that, and then he goes and... and..."

She laid her chin on the table and promptly passed out. I sighed.

"Finally!" I muttered. "At least she shut up!"

I signaled the barkeep and put a pouch in his hand that contained most of my own spending money to settle the tab. She could owe me a favor later on, I could use a break from paper work.

:_But if I give it to her, it'll never get done_.:

"That your friend?" the barkeep asked.

"We work together," I said quietly.

Of the two of us, she was the only one officially outed as a Soul Reaper, me they probably guessed but couldn't confirm. The barkeep grunted acknowledgement. I already knew the reason he was asking.

"You gettin her home?" he asked me.

He didn't want a smell raised about a Soul Reaper getting harmed on her way home from his joint, Soul Reaper's in general and high ranked ones in particular made regular guys like him nervous, especially if they came sniffin' around for trouble.

"I'm stuck for it," I replied, pulling her limply to her feet by one arm and bending forward to toss her onto my shoulder.

I was significantly taller than she was so her feet cleared the ground easy. I wrapped one arm around her knees to keep her in place and let the rest of her just hang down my back as dead weight. She was kinda heavy. The very very faint buzz I'd worked up in my own drinking had faded hours ago so i was perfectly sober as I started back to the gate.

:_That's odd_,: I thought with a frown, looking about me as I carried the woman back through the streets of the Rukon District to the Gate.

There was nobody in the streets. In the world of the living it was common for the streets to stay uninhabited at night, too many things could catch the unwary in the dark. In the Rukon District however, _especially _in the lower provinces, the place was alive at night as well. Men and women of negotiable virtue plied their trade, musicians tried to make a coin or two busking in the streets, people danced and brawled and made out in roadside cafes. People who were fortunate enough to have permanent houses met and socialized on their porches. That was the world I'd grown up in, so I knew it well. But now there was _nobody_, not a single soul was out in sight. And that just _wasn_'_t right_.

:_What kind of monster could clear a district out at night_?: I wondered to myself in puzzlement.

Rukon thugs prided themselves on how strong and tough they were, if someone challenged that strength they'd better be ready to fight. It was how one gained and kept status out there, and status was _everything_. Status meant you got to eat regularly and no-one would try to take your food, you got to sleep on a matress under a roof and no-one would dare steal your things, or knife you in your sleep... but status depended on your own ability to get respect and hold it by force of arms. A thug who acted in a way that even hinted that he wasn't strong enough or brave enough to take on anything that might pose a threat to his status or his turf would very quickly loose face; and to loose face would equal loosing status. No thug with ambitions for the top and for prosperity in Rukon would ever risk looking like a wuss in front of his peers by letting something run around unopposed in their own backyard. If something had sent the thugs from Rukon District fifty-two to ground...

:_That's something to worry about_,: I concluded, mentally nudging at Zabimaru.

He turned with a sleepy, inquiring grumble and caught my mood and roused himself. My senses suddenly sharpened. The wind carried scents of dust, and unwashed bodies, and cheap perfume and liquor. The usual scent of the Rukon Discrict was there but underlying it was something else, something I'd never smelled before. I thought about tracking it down but I was currently carrying a passenger. I couldn't hear anything besides whispers and snores. The air still tasted the same.

I felt ill at ease. There was nothing concrete to base it on but my instincts were growling in warning. There was something out there.

I shook my head... unless that something actually pounced and attacked, it was going to have to wait, I had to get this woman home to someone who could babysit her, then I'd probably just do my paperwork and go to sleep. My night was pretty much shot anyway.

:_Why is it, when i have every intention of brooding on my own misery, that I get stuck spending the whole night listening to someone else's sob story_?: I wondered to myself.

Sometimes it was a good thing I had that narrow-eyed _mean _look to me, the kind of look that most people associated with evil-looking street-punks, otherwise people might realize what a softey I was. I flash-stepped up onto the nearest building and took off across the rooftops to the distant outline of the forbidden city.

* * *

**Ah, the plot thickens.. a little. Writing a drunk Matsumoto is always fun. Please review and tell me what you think so far.**


	3. Second Glance

The walls and gates of the Seireitei loomed before me as I showed my badge to Jidanbo and tossed him a skin filled with sake as a tacit bribe to keep silent, he nodded at me in agreement and lifted the gate. When the thing slammed down behind me it woke Rangiku up.

"Wha--?" she asked, probably wondering who's shoulder she was hanging off from.

"Morning Princess," I said facetiously, as I very carefully set her on the ground. I didn't know how sensitive her stomach was and I didn't want a jostle to prompt her to spew all over me.

"Can you walk?" I asked hopefully. Maybe she could make her own way back to her quarters and then I could go and get some sleep.

She took two faltering steps and then lost her balance. I sighed in irritation as I caught her arm and steadied her. No help for it.

"I'll take that as a no," I grumbled. "Come on then."

With one arm streched across my shoulders, I helped her stumble across the courtyard and into the rats maze that was the Seireitei. Squad Ten HQ was to the west if I wasn't mistaken. I part-walked, part-dragged her along the twisting labyrinthine streets that made up the Seireitei. I knew that they'd been set up that way, instead of in a sensible grid pattern in order to confuse intruders. It had been thought that if an invading force couldn't find their way to all the most important places easily then it would be easy to pick them off one by one.

:_Unfortunately for them, guerrilla warfare tactics work both ways_,: I thought in some amusement, recalling the recent invasion with Ichigo Kurosaki.

"Renji..." she said, her voice quavering, either from nausea or from sorrow.

"Yeah what?" I replied, absently as I was faced with an intersection that I could have _sworn _wasn't there that morning.

"Do- Do you think it was my fault?" she whispered shakily.

"Do I think _what _was your fault?" I asked, confused by a question that came completely out of nowhere.

"That he left. Do you think it was something I did?"

I was surprised. What rubbish! Clearly, someone needed to set things straight for her. Might as well be me as anyone else.

"Listen good!" I snapped. "He left because he's a selfish _ass _who doesn't know how good he has it. It's got nothin' t' do with you, and evrything to do with his own ambitions. Some guys are just too smart for thier own damned good and they think that gives 'em the right to walk all over other people and do whatever the hell they want. Don't let him take up a minute more of your time, he sure as hell don't deserve it and neither do you."

So of course she started crying.

:_Gaah! Knock it off already_!: I thought in frustration, trying to move her along to her rooms a little faster so I could dump her off at her place and go my own way.

"Halt!" cried the voice of a patrolling sentry. "Who goes there?"

"As you were," I called back. "It's just me."

"Lieutenant!" he said, clearly surprised and nervous.

"You wouldn't happen to know the way to get to Squad Ten from here?"

"S-sir!" he said, snapping a salute. "Turn a right go down three passages to the right, four more on the left after than and another right."

_Gee... well why didn't I think of that_.

"Thanks," I said, hustling her along as she swayed from one side to the next. I kept part of my attention on keeping Rangiku mobile and the other half in counting out passages. She started slurring some drunken song about the night three scotsmen went out on the town. I had never been so happy to see the gate to Squad Ten in my whole life.

"Which one's yours?" I asked her trying not to sound relieved that this nonsense was almost over with.

"Up there!" she giggled, pointing.

"Oh, _great_!" I muttered, cursing under my breath.

She _would _have a room on the third floor. I helped her, swaying and stumbling over to the steps and then concluded that trying to navigate steps was beyond someone in her condition. I slung her back over my shoulder without asking (to which she promptly burst out into a fit of giggles) and started climbing.

:_Second floor, one more floor to go_,: I thought to encourage myself not to just leave her out on the steps.

"R-Renji..." she said quaveringly.

:_If she starts crying on me again, I'm leaving her here_.:

"Yes, what is it?" I asked, with long tested patience. I'd liked it so much better when she'd been passed out, at least then she'd been quiet.

"I... I think I'm gonna be sick," she choked.

"If you puke on me I'm dumping you over the side," I warned her.

"Ohhh, I don't feel good," she moaned.

I cursed and flash-stepped the rest of the way up, hoping that the sudden change wouldn't set her off. She made a choking noise so I slowed down at the top of the stairs and made my movements as smooth as possible. A white haired little head poked out of one room and demanded to know what was going on in a voice filled with sleepy annoyance.

"Just a little over-indulgance Captain," I assured him. "Nothing to worry about."

"You could have left her by the gate," he grumbled with a small smirk.

My lips quirked up in amusement and as I passed I said

"The trashman makes a run in the morning and we're already down two lieutenants and three Captains."

I sighed with relief when I pushed the door to her quarters open and considered just dumping her on the floor. But I'd started the job, and she _was _sort of a friend of mine, so I fished in her closet and pulled down her futon and blanket and laid them out.

"There," I said. "Now go to bed!"

I turned to stomp off before anything else could happen to me but she caught my sleeve and looked up at me with quavering eyes.

"Ren-ji," she said, looking at me with the most pitiful look.

"What now?" I growled in annoyance. "I'm not tucking you in, so you can forget it."

"It's not that, it's just... Gin's in the tower facing execution but... didn't you once serve under him in Squad Three?"

"Yeah, for a few years," I said cautiously. "What about it?"

"Well... You know how I feel about him."

I nodded.

"I mean, you really _get _it. When you were in my place and Rukia was to be killed, wouldn't you have done anything to save her? Even if it meant going against the whole Seireitei?"

"Yes," I said simply, keepng my voice level.

It was still hard for me to think of that time, especially now. I'd been a fool to leave it to Byakuya to use his aristocratic influence to get her out of there but at the time I'd figured that those aristocrats were _always _scratching each others backs, I figured they'd give her a slap on the writs, some punitive chores and let her go. By the time I found out otherwise it was too late for me to sneak her out from under guard. Then I'd had to suffer the humiliation of some punk kid with not even a fraction of my experience coming along and rescuing her where I failed. That failure _still _ate at me, that remembered sense of helplessness was a continual goad for me to get better and stronger so I'd never have to go through a situation where there was nothing I cold do. I knew how she was feeling, even though Gin was a traitor to the Soul Reapers, Matsumoto's heart would still tell her that he was the one she loved.

"He's going to _die_, Renji," she said quietly.

"I'm sorry for you but--"

"I couldn't think of another officer I could trust with this," Rangiku said hurriedly. "But I-- I'm going to get him out of there. I know he's a traitor but I love him. You _know _how I feel and what I'm going through. I know a way to get him out without anyone even realizing he's gone until later. No-one would have to know you're involved."

I blinked at her in surprise, completely taken aback. She was the one who'd turned him in!

My mind flashed back to how it had felt when I'd had to hand Rukia over to those assholes... but still, it wasn't like she'd betrayed the whole Seireitei, just broke one or two stupid rules. Gin on the other hand had knowingly turned traitor against his whole people. I'd fought him personally.

"I'll take care of all the rest, all you have to do is cover for me," Rangiku went on.

"Rangiku," I said gently. "I know this is hard for you, believe me, I know. But Gin is... well, he's a _traitor_."

"He was your captain too once," Rangiku said. "Besides, what's it to you whether he's a traitor or not? You've had your fun chasing him down, now you can have even more fun by sneaking him out right under the very noses of your superiors. C'mon Renji, I know you certainly have no love for the Seireitei. Half the time I think you despise every last one of us."

My stray dog instincts scented something in the wind, not danger, at least not an overt one, but something to put me on my guard.

"I wouldn't say despise," I fudged, a little irritated at how close she was to the truth.

There were days that I wanted to take the whole damn place and everyone in it and drop it down an inter-dimentional hole and hope they never came back out again.

"So then what's the problem?" she asked. "Just consider this putting one in the eye of all those high nosed prats who looked down on you because of who you are and where you came from."

There was something about Rangiku's eyes that was a little _too _sharp, a little _too _assessing, which was _odd _considering the fact that she was drunk. In fact for how drunk she was, she sounded remarkably sober. There was something odd going on. I shrugged mentally, I wasn't getting any sense of threat from anywhere so my instincts weren't going crazy, I figured I could afford to play along.

"The problem is that I'd be sneaking a known traitor out from under guard," I answered honestly.

"You were willing to throw away everything you'd worked for once," she pointed out.

_That was different_, I thought to myself. Rukia would never intentionally hurt someone and she'd never _ever _turn her back on a friend. Gin Ichimaru was a _completely _different story.

"You don't really owe these people anything," Rangiku pressed. "Certainly they've never shown any real appreciation for you. Why don't you try joining a side where your skills would be more appreciated? If you help him escape he certainly has the means to reward you well for your trouble."

"Reward?" I asked, trying not to sound as incredulous and disbelieving as I felt.

She must have taken my tone as being interested for she went on and said

"You could be wealthy enough to live in comfort and never have to lift a finger for work if you don't have to. You're from the Rukon District so you could surely appreciate that. Furthermore, you have no money and no connections and yet you made it all the way to Vice Captain in under half a century, you're an ambitious man. Help him escape and he could give you all the power you could want."

I stared for a long minute, struck absolutely speechless. This was Rangiku for heaven's sake! She might be a flake, and a bit of a drama queen, but her loyalty to her friends and her captain was unquestionable. Hearing her say stuff like this was just too--

:_Waaait a minute_,: I thought, my head finally catching up with my surprise.

She might love Gin, but Rangiku Matsumoto cared too much about the people in this place to turn her back on them like they meant nothing to her. That could only mean _one _thing in my book, he had some kind of blackmail or hostage on her and had to be using it to force her to do what he wanted.

Like any stray dog with a known threat to lock onto I took a position on her flank and raised my hackles. She might be a flake, I'd never seen her soiling her delicate-looking self in a practice ring, and she sure liked to waste her time and money on frivolous things (like closets full of clothes she never wore)... to be honest there had been a time or two when I had wondered how in the hell she'd _made _lieutenant, but in the end Rangiku was_ good people_ and someone that I considered worth respecting. Maybe I still had some of that street-gang-leader mentality hanging around me, but I sort of considered her as one of "my own." I knew she was a fellow lieutenant the same as I was, and we were not really all that close, but if she was in trouble, I was gonna help.

I stood up, put a hand on either of her shoulders and looked at her seriously.

"Rangiku," I said, making sure my voice reflected how serious I was about this.

"We've kinda been friends for a long time now and I know what you're going through. That's why, as your friend I'm tellin' you ta walk away. Just walk away now. No-one else will have to know about this conversation but you an' me, I promise, but I can't let you throw away your life over some selfish, manipulative, backstabbing bastard who's too pig-stupid to keep hold of what's really important. He ain't worth it. Now I don't know what he's got on you, but just say the word an' I'll get together a couple o' guys an' we'll take a little visit to the tower and have a nice friendly little... _chat _with him."

I cracked my knuckles loudly to demonstrate that I was gonna let my fists do the talking.

"You think he's blackmailing me?!" she said, sounding incredulous with surprise.

I couldn't help the puzzled look that crossed my face when I answered honestly

"Well yeah, what else could it be? You might love him, but you love your family here more. You're not the type to betray them, even for the guy you're in love with, and you knew what he'd be facing when you turned him in. So he must have something on you, that's the way it's done. I don't really care what it is, but don' worry, I'm real persuasive... I'll get it out of him for ya."

She caught the pleased, anticipatory smile on my face and rolled her eyes.

"Everyone's right," she muttered, almost to herself, it seemed. "You really are a thug."

"Sticks an' stones," I assured her.

"Well what about when you turned Rukia Kuchiki in? You did your duty at first but then you turned around and tried to go against the whole Seireitei to get her out of the tower."

"That's different," I maintained. "I only turned her in because I figured that Rukia being part of an aristocratic family was finally going to do her some _good _for once, 'cept that her brother wouldn't do he was supposed to and let her get _sentenced _instead of getting her off on a technicality or somthing. Secondly, Gin Ichimaru is a whole 'nother kettle of fish from Rukia."

"What about the money and power?" she asked, eying me a little sharply.

I stared at her, non-plussed.

"What about 'em?" I asked flatly.

To be honest, I was a little hurt, I thought she'd thought better of me than that. Sure, I'd clawed my way to the top desperately but when it came right down to it, I wasn't an ambitious kinda guy. I wasn't after the power or the position of vice captain (or even captain) itself, I just wanted to get to a place where I could put myself on equal footing with Rukia Kuchiki and be at her side again without it feeling like an unequal relationship.

"Someone offers you enough money to live well off and power enough to do what you want with it in exchange for a favor or two and you just tell them you're not interested? That's not how its done in Hangdog."

"First off, what do you know about Hangdog?" I replied flatly. I knew damned well that Matsumoto was from one of the first ten districts; the nice places in Rukongai, what the hell did she know about the lower Rukon districts besides possibly the best places to find a drink in them?

"Secondly," I pursued. "Glim and status don' mean shit without shine from y' maties," I said, slipping into streets cant.

"Iffen I wanted glim I could get it easier on the catchin' lay than 'ere, and as for pecking lay..." I switched out of street slang and said in a normal tone. "Consider the source."

"I'm sorry, what?" Rangiku asked, apparently not understanding a word of what I'd just said.

"I said," deciding generously to translate for her. "Monely and power mean nothing without the respect of your friends, and that if it was money I was interested in, I could get it a lot easier by bashing rich people over the head and taking their money, otherwise known as mugging, than I could find it in this place. As for that _supposed _power your friend would offer me... do I look stupid?"

She opened her mouth to answer and I interjected quickly

"Don't answer that." I rushed on to explain what I'd meant before she could think of anything else to say.

"Anything _Gin Ichimaru_ would offer to anyone for something that _seemed _inconsequential would have so many strings attached to it you could use it in a puppet show."

"That's...remarkably sensible of you. So you're saying that you wouldn't help him out for money or power, even if a friend asked you to? Even if you thought that friend was being blackmailed?"

Her tone didn't sound like it was disbelieving, more like she was just checking to make sure.

"Is that just because he's Gin Ichimaru?" she pursued.

"Bastard tried to kill Rukia," I shrugged. "I know he means a lot to you Matsumoto, but to me, he's nothing but an enemy."

"What if it weren't Gin?" Matsumoto asked.

::**_For someone who is supposed to be drunk_**,:: Brother Zabimaru noted in my mind, rousing a little from his nap. ::**_There is an awfully sharp look in her eyes_**.::

I'd noticed it too, something was definitely up. My instincts weren't detecting _immediate _danger, just advising caution on a possible future one.

"Say what?" I asked, uncomprehendingly, partly to buy time and partly because her question didn't make much sense to me.

"Clearly you have a grudge against Gin," she explained. "But if I were offering you money and power and an easy life in exchange for just a few minor favors, y'know, like "forgetting" to file a specific report, or overlooking a few insignificant discrepancies in the paperwork on someone else's behalf, would you do it?"

"No," I said bluntly.

I hadn't been intending to say anything at all because the entire situation seemed fishy to me, and I was suspicious of what was going on, but the honesty had just been startled out of me. Hearing Matsumoto say things like that had come as a shocking and unwelcome surprise. I'd really thought she'd known better than that. The fact that she'd make an assumption like _that _about me made me feel very hurt and insulted. As a consequence, I spoke before I thought and what **I** was really feeling came spilling out.

"What, you think that just because I'm from the Rukon District that I'll just accept bribes and let things like that slide under my nose as long as I get a cut of the take, is that it? You think that just because I'm from the streets that I have no honor or loyalty an' I'll just take money from anyone?"

It was ridiculous how much my feelings had been hurt by that. We'd fought side by side, I'd even dragged her drunk ass home instead of just letting her get herself into trouble, and I find out _this _is what she thinks of me! I pivoted on my heel to storm out. She could pass out and choke on her own vomit for all I cared!

:_I thought she was kinda my friend, but in the end she's just like all those other noble brats,_: I thought, hurt and insulted that she thought I was just a dog that would take scraps from anywhere and wag it's tail for one master as much as another.

:_Forget this_,: I thought, hot with anger. :_I don't have to stick around and take this_!:

"Did you get all that, captain?" Rangiku, called, looking off to the side. Abruptly, like an actor taking off her mask, her drunken slouch straightened and her eyes cleared of their haze, her whole demeanor changed from inebriation to perfect sobriety in an eyeblink. The shoji leading to the next room slid open to reveal the kneeling form Captain Hitsugaya.

I frowned, my suspicions hardening into a certainty. I'd just been _had_.

"See? I _told _you," Rangiku said to the kid, who promptly rolled his eyes.

"I didn't disagree with you Lieutenant," he replied. "Lieutenant Abarai is too straightforward and linear for subterfuge."

"Loyal too," Rangiku reminded him.

My eyes narrowed to slits as i stared hard at the both of them, Rangiku and the young Captain of the Tenth Division looking up at me in partly abashed chagrin.

"I apologize for the ruse Lieutenant," the little brat said to me, his tone serious as ever. "It wasn't my wish to deceive you, but given everything that has happened recently, all the betrayals and upheavals, the Head-Captain felt it necessary to test the loyalties of all the upper-level officers still remaining in the Seireitei."

"Hn. 'Zat right?" I grunted, hunkering down to examine them both. "Whad'jyou two do ta get stuck with it? Isn't jobs like this what the _Second _Division is for?"

"It's our outstanding loyalty and people skills," Rangiku said, plastering on her best winning smile.

"We're on good terms with most of the officers still left in the Seireitei so we were the ones he picked to sound people out," Hitsugaya explained, shooting a look of annoyance at his lieutenant for her levity.

"The whole Seireitei is vulnerable right now with so many of our officers and sub-officers either AWOL or permanently decommissioned."

That was a nice way of saying dead, I remembered.

"It's more important now than ever to be sure of the loyalty of our officers."

I could see another angle to why I'd been singled out that the little captain hadn't said out loud; as a most recent visitor to Hueco Mundo, there would naturally be an obvious suspicion cast on me. After all, Gin and Aizen were both tricky enough to have fooled everyone good with their charade, it would only be natural to think that while I'd been there they might have _turned _me. After all, I'd never really been all that enthusiastic in my loyalty towards the Seireitei as a whole; my rebellious side was well known and any who could really say they knew me knew that I was really only here because of _her_. It wasn't a terrible stretch of the imagination to think that I might have either gotten sick of waiting around for her to change her mind, or had seen an opportunity to topple the Kuchiki House in all the confusion and gain my goal that way. Still, the suspicion stung a little... even if I didn't really care what they thought of me.

"And you passed! Isn't that great?" She was flashing me her most winning no-hard-feelings smile, I scowled in response. I didn't like being fooled with, even by a friend.

"I spent most of my extra wages for this month covering your tab," I growled in reply. "You _owe _me one Matsumoto."

"Aww, Renji," she protested whingeing. I held up a hand, signaling I wasn't having any of it.

"Don't think I won't collect on it, I had to haul your heavy ass half way across the Rukon District--"

"Are you calling me fat?!" she demanded hotly. Okay, so I _had _said that to get under her skin a little.

"And then pull you most of the way through this place, so you definitely owe me one."

She huffed a sigh as I nodded in respectful parting to Captain Hitsugaya.

"I'm off to sleep," I grumbled. I was tired and not inclined to waste time on pleasantries I didn't feel.

* * *

**A word about continuity. I don't really have access to all the tv episodes, and after the first filler arc (with the Bounts) and then they stop right in the middle of the Rescue Orihime bit, just as Ichigo _finally _rescues her (don't they look like a bridal couple in that scene! with the white dress and the black shihakushou) and then the show producers wave thier magical wand of author powers and then suddenly and inexpicably we're back in the mortal world and it's like nothing happened... without any explanation at all, just suddenly _there_, and all this other stuff is going on also without any explanation whatsoever, they lost me. They _completely _lost me. **

**So you know what, I'm just going to ignore the Anime. The manga is easier to track down and verify facts anyway so I'm following purely the manga up to around chapter 317 or 318 ish. I'd read about that far when I just decided to start writing. So, the story starts technically at a lull when all this supposed fighting in Hueco Mundo and later in fake-Karakura is over with, and I'm sorry but it doesn't take into account any of the cool stuff that happens after chapter 320. So assume that everyone who is alive at that point makes it through just fine and it's a few months later and the war is still technically on, but everyone is resting and gearing up for the next big fight.  
**


	4. Third Place

**Warning, there's a slight point of view shift in this chapter. When I had originally written it I'd just finished a book written in third person and I wasn't paying attention to my POV as I was writing, and so it wound up being written in third person instead of first. I thought about going back and changing it, but when I went to go do so, I realized that with the material I wrote there were things that Renji might not be directly aware of that I wanted to keep in there, so I kept it in third person. This is probably the only chapter that's going to be like this. Well, anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

He pulled out his futon, stripped down to his underrobe and flopped on it with a sigh. He felt tired, but it was a weariness of spirit rather than mere physical exhaustion. At the same time he felt sleepy, he also felt restless and irritated. Of course, he knew what the conflict was. The exhaution came from the fact that even though he'd finally attained every goal he'd set for himself in order to get to a place where he could be by Rukia's side with his head held up, the prize he had _really _wanted had slipped right through his fingers and was now further from his reach than ever. The defeat wasn't even tangible, and that was part of what was so frustrating about it. This wasn't a foe he could swing his sword at and hound into submission; how did you change a person's heart? You couldn't, and that was a fact. Regardless of anything else, the heart does as the hearts does.

:I won every battle and lost the war....: he thought despairingly.

And that just irritated the hell out of him. After all, _he _had always been there for her, all she ever had to do was call, or reach out her hand, and regardless of propriety or what anyone else thought... he would have went to her. The annoying thing was that Renji knew deep down that the reverse was also true; he could have just as easily found a way to keep in touch with her through little things, and he hadn't.

Everyone was a coward when it came to love, even a guy willing to fight for it.

:I guess I just hoped, foolishly it seems, that she might have noticed how hard i was working, that she might have figured out that everything i was doing, how quickly I was climbing up the ranks, was for her. I guess i hoped she'd realize that my actions stemmed from something greater than friendship.:

After all, women are supposed to be subtle like that, always atributing _motives_, even when there are none. Not Rukia apparently. Renji was angry at himself for not doing more to make sure she knew how he felt about her. He was also, deep down, irritated at the two of _them_; after all, what did Ichigo have that Renji did not? Why did _he _win her heart and Renji, who had worked himself half to death for _years_, get left behind in the Seireitei as a mere friend? He was irritated at his helplessness. He knew that if he tried to come between the two of them, not only would he look pathetic, He'd make Rukia unhappy... and that was the one thing he could never do.

So there he was, crushed on the inside, cast adrift of purpose and helpless to keep the one he loved desperately from falling in love with another.

:I need something to distract me or I'm going to go insane,: Renji thought with detached calm.

There was always the never-ending, grinding, boring paperwork that came with his new, sought after-position. It drove him crazy most days but no-one could say that it didn't make a good distraction. He rolled off his futon and paced into the outer room of his new lieutenants quarters. He was still new to the place, with everything that had been going on since he'd gotten his position he actually didn't spend much time in his new quarters, so he hadn't really moved in. There was his futon in one room with his few real possessions piled up in one corner, a low table with a few cushions (that had already been there) in another room, a small kitchenette with a few dishes (that had been a present from Momo) and a small office room with a low desk that was already stacked high with paperwork. Renji didn't own much, so despite the grand spaciousness of the place (officers got nicer quarters and the upper-level officers got the really _really _nice quarters) it looked pretty spartan.

He'd never been much in the habit of accreting possessions anyway; in the Rukon district, ownership of things was something a person fought over tooth and nail with everybody else around them. One either collected things obsessively, like a Rukon bag-lady, and then spent their time brawling like cats with everyone else over bits and ends that "might someday be useful" or one simply did not project any importance on objects that were not absolutely necessary to survival and discarded anything that might slow them down. As a young child he'd been a responsible young gang-leader, and had spent more time than he'd liked smoothing over disputes between his friends over this or that trinket; he'd quickly decided that if he were going to have to fight over something, it was going to have to be something worth fighting over; like how many blankets his group got and who slept closer to the door. He'd quickly gotten out of the habit of ownership over trifles, and even though he was now in a position to be able to pay for whatever he wanted, he still didn't own very much besides clothes and hair-ties, a guitar, art supplies, and some really nice sun-glasses were the extent of his luxuries.

Renji settled himself in seiza at his low desk and flicked on the light with a low flare of his reiatsu, pulling the nearest forms directly in front of him and scanning over them to see what his third seat had dropped off in his absence. He smiled a little wryly at the sticky note that Rikichi had put on the top to remind him to eat right. That kid.

The Captains of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads were, without a doubt, the most impressive fighters, infomation gatherers, tacticians, strategists and mad scientists in the whole Seireitei, perhaps in all of existence. The strength of their reiastu alone could fell a lower-level hollow from twenty paces. By strength of arms, charisma and main force alone they led great teams of fighters who might have other wise decided they'd rather squabble amongst themselves for power and status. All of the Seireitei warriors could have been no better than a bunch of unruly thugs, but the structure of the Seireitei and the sheer force of personality of its leaders brought order where there would have been chaos, discipline where there would have been negligence and courage where there would have been cowardice. Strange and eccentric as they were, no-one could argue that the Captains of the Court Guard Squads didn't deserve the loyalty of their subordinates. You didn't have to like them, but the captains were as much a _symbol _to most Reapers as they were an actual person.

With all of that said, anyone who had been around for any amount of time quickly realized something about the captains of the Court Guard Squads... the Captains might be the leaders and commanders in the Court of Pure Souls, but they didn't run the Seireitei... the _Lieutenants _did.

If a Soul Reaper had a wife and kid outside of the Seireitei (and there were a number who did despite the rule that said Soul Reapers were not to officially marry) they did not ask their Captain for a stipend to keep them, they filed out the necessary paperwork and turned it into the lieutenant. If the Head Quarters needed work done on it, the lieutenant made the arrangements. When it was time for a fresh crop of newbies to be tested and assigned to their duties the lieutenant tested their strengths and weaknesses individually, assigned them to the proper Seated Officer for extra training in their weak areas and left the Seated Officers in charge of them.

Lieutenants also handled what was referred to as the "Soul Roll" or "the roster" it was the list Reapers that were switched out with regularity between assignments in ther Mortal Realm, guarding the Seireitei, and periodic breaks to see their families or just have a needed releif from duty. It was a headache because he had to remember all the Reapers and assign to territories and duties them according to thier strengths and weaknesses, not only that but he had to remember who had recently done what and for how long to avoid repetition. Being assigned the same beat or duties for too long was one good way to earn an abrupt downturn in morale.

The lieutenants also requisitioned supplies for the Reapers under their command; clothing, articles in the toilet kit, shoes, sword oil, wax for the scabbards, hair combs and brushes... the list went on and on to include all the various minutae and articles necessary for the upkeep of a few hundred men and women. Lieutenants also reviewed and approved the menus for the kitchens and requisitioned the food supplies for that week so the cooks could prepare them. It was the Lieutenants job to read over every report that the Reapers were required to fill out and send in, and not only to look for any discrepancies in the reports, but to write up his _own _summary about how the Reapers were doing for the Captain to peruse. This summary was necessary because Captains did not have much day to day interaction with thier subordinates, so it was a leiutenants job to keep an eye on things. It was part of a Vice-Captain's duty to know the details about the skills, abilities, weakenesses and possible potentials of every Reaper under his command. Renji got to wade through forests of reports and paperwork that landed on his desk and distil it down to a weekly summary for his captain with short, concise notes about the individual Reapers, Seated Officers, their performance, the recent activities in the feild, any anomalies from the norm, recent Hollow activity and anything else that might be worth noting.

And then there was the payroll... Renji _hated _it with a _passion_. But it was his job to see that it was done and done well so that the Captain could sign off on it. The job of a Lieutenant was to keep their squad running smoothly so that the Captains could keep an eye on the larger picture. So all of the day to day minutae, supplies and requisitions, the roster, payroll, Reaper evaluations... all of it ended up as an enormous stack of paperwork on his desk.

He'd already finished most of the niggling day to day stuff (stupid stuff like 'how many shower sandals would Barack Five need for the month?') earlier that morning. There were really only two things left for him to do but he'd been putting it off because he disliked them. That was not a good idea, seeing as they were two the most important tasks assigned a lieutenant; the Soul Roll and the payroll. Of the two of them, he liked the Soul Roll better; he knew each of his subordinates by name and face, and all of their individual strengths and weaknesses. Usually he dreaded having a new batch of greenies come in, because it meant that he had to fight them all individually, assert his status and rank with some of the more fractious kids (usually, they were the prize brats of the noble families who had done well in the academy and thought that they could run the squad better than their Vice Captain) and then determine what they would do well in. However, right then, they were _massively _undermanned due to the recent fighting, and Renji would have welcomed a batch of noobs just to bring all the Reaper teams back up to full fighting strength.

:_Eighth Seat's element is particularly lacking_,: Renji thought with a sympathetic wince.

Poor Sati had only herself, her second, and maybe one or two Reapers under her. If they were called on to fight off a powerful enemy, they'd be slaughtered if they didn't have another squad backing them up. Renji would have just expediently combined that element with sixth (who was also down _more _than a few men) except that Sati was a good officer, a strong fighter and a leader with good common sense, the Reapers under her were good too, not lacking in courage (maybe a little too gung-ho, but Renji couldn't hold that against them) and he was reluctant also, to assign them elsewhere.

:_I guess I'll just have to assign them grunt work around the Headquarters until we can get a fresh batch of Reapers in from the academy_,: Renji decided with a shrug as he noted down some assignments for them for the Captain to sign off on.

They were down a few Seated Officers from the lower numbers. Tenth Seat Naru Moritama had been taken in the recent fighting in Hueco Mundo and not replaced yet. Seventeenth Seat Mizune Horiki, Renji remembred her as being a small woman with a viscious right hook and the temperment of a chihuahua (once she got her teeth on something, you could swing her around as much as you wanted she wasn't letting go). Also Twentieth Seat Hidoki Seikawa, a young man who had shown tremendous potential; he had a powerful attack and speed and strength to take advantage of it, he had been killed too young. Renji knew that he shouldn't put it off, but he was strangely reluctant to assign new officers to fill the missing spots, he had a few names picked out as people who had real potential, they displayed leadership skills and the possible ability to protect the subordinates who would be placed under their direct command. Despite the fact that they were understaffed and it was certainly the duty of the Lieutenant to make sure that the officers corps at least was at full strength. Renji knew he was reluctant to replace them was because he felt that he had somehow failed them, he knew in his mind that it was illogical, that they were soldiers too and that it was not his job to protect them, but to give them the best chance possible of surviving using their own strengths. Nevertheless, he felt responsible for them, and so, responsible for their deaths.

:_No sense in putting it off any longer_,: he thought.

He pulled out the sheet of paper on which he had marked a short list of names, the names of those new or fairly new Reapers he felt had the right strength, experience, leadership skills and potential to be promoted into an Officers Seat. He'd only come up with seven of them. In the morning, he'd call those seven Reapers to a practice field and test their strength. It didn't so much matter to him whether or not they managed to score a victory against him, his interests lay in testing their spirit by the blade. There was often a moment in combat when the two combatants could truly know one another. Renji held the somewhat old-fashioned belief that there were things you could only know about a person when you met in battle. Field reports sure as hell didn't tell you everything, one might even say that they barely told you anything but there was something about the clash of one zanpaktou against another that allowed a greater connection.

He pulled out the weekly summary log-book and glanced again over his summary. It wasn't due for a few days yet and he was current on all of the most recent reports in from the field. First element had had fewer Hollow encounters than usual lately, but they'd been assigned to a site that seemed to be going cold anyway. A few years before it had been an industrial boom-town but it's prosperity had waned in recent years because of the economy and most of the living had abandoned it; with fewer souls about there was less material for Hollows to either feed on or be made out of. Renji had already decided to rotate in the fifteenth seat element; there were fewer Reapers assigned to that element and a lot of the fighters were weaker when it came to physical attacks but had higher agility and kido-attacks. The Reapers assigned to that element would be more than adequate to handle the workload.

Renji frowned down at the summary log for a moment, wondering if he should make a note of his observations in the Rukon District. It was not, _officially_, part of the duties of the Soul Reapers, their concern lay with keeping the balance between the souls in the mortal realm and the realm of the dead. They didn't bother with the ones that shuffled off the mortal coil and went where they were supposed to go on their own but rather they handled the souls that were special cases, ghosts and those who refused to pass on. The souls in the Rukon district were already passed on so unless they provoked the Seireitei directly, the Soul Reapers had no more interest in them. There was nothing really concrete for him to note on the surface; a decrease in nocturnal activity in the District thugs would probably only be seen as a _good _thing in the eyes of most people who lived in the Seireitei (who had all come from noble houses). Renji himself wasn't quite sure what exactly it was about it (other than the fact that it _was _unusual) it was that bothered him. He _was _bothered though, his instincts told him that something wasn't right. He couldn't put his finger on it, maybe it was nothing more than a gut feeling, but his instincts hadn't led him wrong yet so he was inclined to listen to them.

_:How the hell am i supposed to write a summary about it that doesn't make me sound crazy or paranoid or both_,: Renji wondered to himself.

Captain Kuchiki liked his world nice and orderly, he was just that kind of guy, anything that smacked of the words "it's just a feeling" was dismissed as unreasonable and would probably get respect points deducted. Besides, as far as Renji knew, Captain Kuchiki was one of those who fell into the "the Rukon Districts have nothing to do with us, so unless they're storming the gates or rioting or lighting themselves on fire leave them be" camp. There were a lot of those types here in the Seireitei and Renji disliked every last one of them. After a few minutes thought he just made a small note about it on the bottom of the page and decided that Kuchiki could make of it what he would.

:_I'll look into it later when I get some time_,: he promised himself.

He spent the rest of the night, until he was finally too tired to keep his eyes open, wrestling with the payroll. When he finally did crawl over to his futon he fell into a dreamless, restful sleep that did not allow for nightmares... or disappointments.

* * *

**Next up, Renji tests out the officers candidates, so we get to enjoy some fun fight scenes. You can look for it on thursday. I usually update on tuesdays and thursdays since those are the days I have off from classes and work. Thanks ever so much to the kind people who have written me reveiws and I hope you enjoyed this imagined look into the glorious life of a Vice Captain.**


	5. Go Fourth

The next morning found me warming my muscles at the practice yard with the seven prospective replacement officers, five of which I had fought and done some training with myself. I hadn't been a Lieutenant for long at all, but the recent battles and upheavals had taken its toll on the more experienced squad members. The seniors that were left were all either low-ranked talentless fighters with mediocre abilities, or men who, for whatever reason were simply not interested in advancement. I didn't _get _that kind of attitude, even _before _I'd taken up the sword, I'd always felt that it was a person's responsibility to better themselves and their skills for the sake of those who looked to them; but it worked for them and they did thier job, so who was I to argue with them about lacking ambition? After a few minutes of good warm-ups and limbering to get ready I faced my first contestant.

Saki Miamoto was taller than average for a woman (I still had _inches _on her, of course) and slender. She was light on her feet and used her height to advantage to give her reach. I was unsurprised to see that when her sword was released from its quiscent state it was long and thin like a rapier with a shield on the hilt. You could often tell a lot about a person and thier fighting style by thier zanpaktou. That wasn't surprising considering that the soul swords were in fact a _part _of us.

She easily dodged Zabimaru's opening drive and swing, spun out of the way of his reverse swing and sped in close to engage me at the hilt. She'd been quick to realize one of Zabimaru's weaker points; it was a blade that worked it's full power at a distance; the true force was accumulated at the end of the blade and when it was extended it was difficult to defend my stationary position. I gave her a mental point for her observation skills and called Zabimaru in for a close-in fight. Her swings were swift, light taps along the teeth of my blade, easily parried and my superior arm strength made my guard an unwavering wall of defense. She was fast, but her moves were a _little _predictable, she tried to surprise me by feinting a lunge in from the front and then dodging in a blur of flash-step to attack from the side. I parried and countered easily, sending Zabimaru out to drive her off. She jumped up to dodge and stabbed down as she fell to pin the extended teeth to the ground I countered by twisting my wrist, reversing my grip and sending the whip of teeth chasing after her into the air. She blocked and flipped lightly to the side, trying once again to knock zabimaru off to one side. I moved with the momentum of her push and swung the extended teeth in a three-sixty to take her from behind, but naturally she was too quick and moved out of the way.

We broke apart for a moment, pausing to catch our respective breaths (or she did anyway, I was just getting warmed up) and studied each other a little more closely. I could see she was frustrated by the fact that, while she'd been dancing around the practice ring, I'd barely moved and inch from my original position. I could practically see the decision on her face, she was going to try to make me move, put me on the defensive and win that way.

She suddenly came in low and fast, sliding under my guard and nearly taking me out. She'd quickly figured out another of my weak points; in the same way that a snake strikes and accumulates the full speed and power of a deadly attack at its tip, it must _first _be coiled to strike. It must have a stable, stationary base with with to coil pent-up energy, and so it was with Zabimaru. Take out the base and the attack fails. I quickly called Zabimaru in to his blade-rest (the widening saw-blade) form and countered her strikes. She was fast, but because she was a lightweight her swing didn't have much power behind them. Though she swung at me with all her strength I didn't move an inch except to casually block her swings. She needed to work on her precision, and her attacks were too predictable, at any time, had i chosen to, I could have countered her moves and finished her, but that wasn't the point. I was here to test her character as well as her fighting prowess. Zabimaru in its closed form however was still wide and heavy and I was a pretty strong guy so my blows hammered at her as I kept myself directly in front of her and she was forced to give ground. I may not be as fast or as light as she, but when it came to close fighting I was certainly no slouch either. The only problem, which she was quick to catch onto and take advantage of, I noted with another mental point for her, was that my size and strength made my movements larger. Our blades met over and over and I could feel the detirmination the burning drive to win against the opponent who stood before her. Under her steel I sensed she had a suppleness to it that spoke of an active and clever mind behind it. I nodded mentally to myself and decided that she was getting one of the spots. Which one would depend on my other fights. She spent a while doging and weaving and darting in for attacks that, while there were a few close calls, did not break my defenses. By the time I knocked her blade to the side and made her yeild we'd accumulated a small crowd.

:_Sheesh, who told them to bring the stupid banner_,: I grumbled to myself.

Off to one side stood a small knot of young and not-so-young no-rank Reapers squeeling and cheering and making all sorts of unnecessary noise as they watched me fight. They had a large banner with my name on it surrounded in little hearts with words of encouragement on it. The fangirls showed up at every practice they could find out about to cheer me on and make lots of noise. One time I made the mistake of taking my shirt off half-way through the practice session (it had been a humid morning in summer) and they had all went positively ape-shit. You'd think someone had shouted shoe sale at the mall or something.

All the lieutenants had them... fan clubs composed of lower-ranked members, usually those members who were content with a lesser position in the squad instead of advancing to the highest position they could attain. So far as I could tell, they spent their time and money in somewhat frivolous Seireitei-related pursuits like gossip at the baths or their respective associations. I wasn't sure if I bought Kuchiki's statement that such workers were the backbone of the Soul Reapers, but.... meh. Whatever. The general consensus was that as long as they didn't get obnoxious or interfere in the lieutenants private lives, the fanclubs were allowed to exist on an unofficial basis. Matsumoto's fanclub was _enormous_, predictably, it was filled mostly with men. Kira had been surprised and a little chagrinned by his; it was mediocre-sized and mostly women (and a few of the boys from Fourth). Every Lieutenant had thier own reaction to them, ranging from pride to embarrassment. From what I had heard, Hisagi liked his, or rather, he liked the easy opportunity it afforded him for... ah, _recreation (_sex_)_. I found the fanclubs strange, and a little _creepy_, and generally did my best to ignore them. Especially my own. I had been really surprised to discover that I actually _had _one in the first place; most people took one look at me with my narrow mean-looking eyes, and my tattoos, and my Rukon District background and did the exact opposite of becoming my fan. It was a little unsettling to be admired for a change.

:_Rank hath its privileges, I **guess**_,: I thought dubiously.

I kept hoping that they'd come to their senses and find something else better to do,... but no, there they were, every time I went out to practice or duel, waiting on the sidelines with an encoragement and love banner, bottled waters and towels. Their squees and cheers weren't going to distract me from a good fight, so I had no real grounds to get rid of them. I sighed internally and signaled that my next match was up.

"We love you Renji!" one particularly enthusiastic fangirl called from behind the banner and three of her friends squeed excitedly. I tried to keep my disgruntlement to myself.

:_What the **hel**_**_l_**?" I wondered to myself.

I often wondered what they expected me to _do _when they shouted these pronouncements at me... I mean, was I supposed to wave? Was I supposed to smile or laugh or do a backflip?

I turned to face my opponent instead.

The match was over a little more quickly than the other one, the fight had told me a number of things about Anji Nishiji, a young man who had been among the first groups I'd personally tested straight from the Academy. The first thing the fight told me was that the great potential I'd sensed in him the first time I'd tested him was still _there_, but still sleeping. The second thing was that he was uncertain of himself, he didn't attack aggressively enough to win and when he did attack, part of him held back. Third thing I found was that, even though he had plenty of strength in his swing, he was aiming at all the wrong targets. I made a mental note to have on older fighter take him under his wing for additional practice.

The next fight was with another promising (relatively recent) recruit named Zaku Shinomichi. He was a strong fighter with a zanpaktou that released into the form of a double edged broadsword with a wider double-bitted axe at the end of it. His movements were large to account for the extra weight of the swing of the broadaxe but he compensated for the relative slowness of movement by sheer, raw physical power. I'd fought worse though. Zabimaru had no difficulties at all in weaving around Zaku's attacks and scoring multiple hits in one go. When our blades met however, the assessment I came away with was that the young man was straightforward and earnest as a person could be and _not _be a complete sap, and that he would barrel his way through any obstacle in his path to keep his friends safe. In my book those qualities made him a good candidate.

My fourth opponent had a style that evenly distributed speed and strength, he was a talented fighter but a little lazy, the impression I came away with was of someone who had always had good things come to him and therefore had never really had to _work _hard for anything. I immediately dismissed him as a candidate in my mind, he lacked detirmination and this would be a serious flaw in a leader.

Fifth up was another woman, Kali Sujo, she was smaller than Saki had been. Like the previous women I had fought, what she lacked in size and strength she generally made up for in speed and accuracy. Her zanpaktou was made for ranged fighting, the hilt had a thousand little needles bristling out from it and there was a small channel down the length of her double edged Chinese sword that would launch a needle as she whipped the sword through the air at a person. Because she was so small, she was even lighter on her feet and thus even quicker; her main attack it seemed was to flash step to different places so quickly (most) couldn't track her and throw darts at her opponent, aiming for the vital meridians of the body, paralyzing or possibly even killing as the mood struck her. Nice. I couldn't help but admire that, even as I whipped Zabimaru out to deflect all of her little stingers and arrow in on the next place she would be flash stepping to. She was taken by surprise that I'd managed to predict her next move. When our swords met I came away with the impression of her being a canny fighter, fast and a little on the vicious side, and very very ambitious. She wanted power, but I couldn't quite determine if she wanted power for it's own sake or if she had a particular goal in mind. This one might bear some careful consideration.

Sixth in the ring was another young man I'd fought before. Like the others he'd shown real potential in his skills and he seemed to have a lot of the qualities of a good leader, but (and lately there _always _seemed to be a but) I wasn't so sure about his ability to handle leading people into battle. He seemed more like one of those leaders that attracted people to him with his inner gentleness and made people want to like him. His sword skills were geared mostly toward evasion and misdirection rather than vanquishing an enemy. Still, not every squad was made of hack-and-bash fighters like me, we needed our fair share of people who knew how to evade and counter as well, and I needed another squad where I could put all those excess kido fighters they seemed to keep sending me.

Seventh was a no right off the bat. Someone had spoiled the kid too much as a child so now she was thoroughly self-centered, with an over inflated opinion of herself and her skills. She _did _command impressive kido skills and an admirable strength of self discipline, but it was a good thing that hat's were not part of the uniform, because she would never have fit one. I tried not to humiliate her on purpose, but damned if her expression when I knocked her on her ass in two swings of Zabimaru's tail wasn't amusing.

It had been a nice morning exercise for me, I hadn't broken much of a sweat, but, as always, the act of one on one combat gave me some greater insight into my own fighting style. I was good power-fighter, but I could definitely stand to work on my speed. After all, Zabimaru was the snake tail, snakes were well known for their speed. It seemed a little odd of me, now that I thought of it, to only concentrate on _one _aspect of my zanpaktou and ignore all of the other advantages it might offer me.

::_**It's about time**_!:: Zabimaru growled directly into my mind. ::_**Now stop moping around and get cracking**_.::

I blinked in surprise. Despite the fact that I considered us partners, and him as an odd sort of friend, my zanpaktou usually didn't seem to have much to say to me unless I asked him his opinion first.

:_Ya got somthin' ta say_?: I asked him curiously.

Zabimaru rarely commented on anything but when he did I always thought he was worth listening to. He made sense.

::**_I got no problem with you honing your skills in your own way and time, we've gone far you and me, but you gotta learn to grow sphereically_**.::

:_Huh_?: I said blankly. I received and image of a ball expanding outwards in every direction at once.

:_**That means all different directions**_,: he clarified. ::_**Winning a fight is more than just who's stronger or who can get the better position, speed and reflexes are important too. So is using that head of yours for something other than just decoration**_.::

:_Anything else_?: I bit out, suddenly wishing that I hadn't asked him for his opinions.

::**_Y__eah. Yer an idiot_**,:: the Baboon King informed me.

:_I am not_!: I objected hotly.

It was bad enough that everyone else in the whole Seireitei besides maybe Rukia thought so, I didn't need my sword thinking that of me as well. Maybe I wasn't a tactical genius for figuring out fighters and strategizing ways to beat them but I could usually handle myself pretty well.

::**_Sure you are_**,:: Zabimaru disagreed easily. ::**_Ya got some prat movin' in on the girl you love and instead of putting him in his place and showin' her who's the best, yer jus' gonna let him waltz off with her without a word o' protest. Face it, that's wimpitude_**.::

:_It's not that simple_!: I snapped. :_She already cares for him, and if I go in there and just lay the smack down on him, assuming I could do it at all, she's gonna side with him and get mad at me for being violent. I've already finally made it to lieutenant and kicked the crap out of the Hollows in Hueco Mundo so there's not a whole lot else I can do to impress her with_.:

The thought that I might have finally clawed myself to a place where I could be at her side finally and not have to lower my head only to find that when I got there I would only be at her side as a childhood friend and a reliable ally just sort of made me want to curl up in a corner somewhere and die. I'd never felt despair like that before. It was like I was a sailor in a boat that had always had a sail and a rudder to keep me going forward and a star to guide me and now my sail was gone, I was without a rudder and my sky had clouded over. I was dead in the water, hanging in limbo without anyway of knowing where I was going or any destination to aim for even if I did have the power to get there. I was cast adrift, without purpose and I could only watch with my heart dieing by inches as everything I truly valued drifted further and further away from me. I had always just thought she'd be there, constant as a star. Only now... she wasn't. I didn't know what to do.

::**_That's the kind of attitude you need ta fix before you do anything else_**,:: he told me. ::**_We've gotten where we are by grit and detirmination alone. Even if we do have the stuff to make lieutenant, we still have things we can improve on and if you don't have the detirmination that made you what you are then you're gonna loose everything. You've always known who you are and what you want, where you're going and how to get there, that's why we can fight at this level at all. If you don't know anything anymore then what have you got to keep you going?_**::

:_Nothing_,: I replied glumly.

Zabimaru made a disgusted noise in the back of my mind and turned over and went back to sleep. It was awfully quiet and lonely here without him. He did raise a good point though. I didn't get to where I was by quietly sitting back and doing nothing. But battles of the heart weren't the kind that could be won with a sword. That didn't leave me in a very good spot. I needed to clear my head and decide what I was going to do next.

Most of my paperwork was already done and Kuchiki was out at some noble function, dancing attendance on some noblemans daughter at her debutante party or whatever so I found myself with a rare free afternoon. Since I had become Lieutenant, free time was rare, there was always _something _for me to do; either Kuchiki had me sent out on some mission or other, or I was running the squad, or training the noobs, or filling out forms, or he had me babysitting the fort. So here I was with a rare free afternoon.

:_I need to take my mind off things... maybe i'll look into **that **thing_.:

It was sensible enough and even quasi-legal, if anyone asks I could say that I was out investigating an anomaly for the sake of expanding on a report I'd written. The fact that it'd get me out of this place and into territory where part of me felt like I still belonged sometimes was just a fringe benefit really.

I dropped the latest stack of paperwork on the Captain's desk for him to just sign and have sent to their various departments while I went out for the day. I dropped back by my quarters for the tattered dark cloak I wore when I visited the Rukon District, people there tended to avoid a man in uniform. I grabbed my base-pass and a very small pouch that contained only a few coins, and my decoy-pouch weighted with lead slugs. Growing up in a place where there were more pick-pockets and theives than there were drunkards had taught me a few things (I never told anyone else this, but listed among my other skills would be, pick-pocketing, roof-walking, cut-pursing, lock-picking and rudimentary espionage). I made sure my pass for the Gates was on me, and flash-stepped to the South Gate, showing Jidanbo my badge and headed out.

* * *

**As promised, a new chapter. It's a nice little filler in between the last one and the more plot-oriented scenes that happen in the next chapter, where the information really gets cooking and we at least get a name and a hint about the nature of the mysterious new enemy. Look forward to it, and please review! I see you all next Tuesday, or... well, maybe Sunday if I get enough enthusiasm to pressure me into posting early.  
**


	6. Fifth Element

The first couple of districts surrounding the Seireitei, (the ones still in the single digits) weren't so bad really; there was usually food to be found at the market and plenty of water that was actually purified by a septic system. The houses generally looked normal: with roofs that were not about to collapse and walls that were well maintained. They even had lawns and many held vegetable gardens as well. The streets were in good repair, there were even parks at regular intervals. The children and adults here were not dressed in rags, fighting for scraps. In fact most of the residents of the inner districts were the spouses and children of the Soul Reapers in the Seireitei. As one got farther and farther out, the buildings and streets slowly segued into a greater state of disrepair. The buildings became more run-down and less well-maintained, the parks and benches disappeared to be replaced with lots where collections of homeless built shanties out of whatever they could find. When one reached the very outer districts, places like the one he'd grown up in, the buildings were so flimsy a high wind would knock them over, and they were often no more than a collection of nailed-together junk (like the shack Rukia and I had grown up in). The outer districts had a certain... _savor _to them too, an aroma compounded of unwashed bodies, stagnant water and sometimes bloated corpses. Strays fought with ragged, unwashed kids over scraps from the garden and the older men and women fought amongst one another for status in order to get a decent share of what little there was. I skipped over the rooftops in a blur, headed for my old stomping grounds of Hangdog; if there was anything amiss I'd know it there.

:_This place ain't changed_,: I thought as I secured my hooded cloak and dropped soundlessly down into the streets, hidden in the shadow between two shanties. I stepped out cautiously into the main part of the street to get my bearings and looked around.

It still smelled like a trash-heap and I reflexively dodged as two forms came flying out of the ramshackle building behind me and started brawling in the streets. Prostitutes hung their "wares" outside of nearby second story windows to invite passersby to come buy. There were small roving gangs of ragged children, skinny and quick, skittering about like rats eying any likely prospects for food. And the inevitable furtive pickpocket...

"Don't even think about it," I growled at him, voice dripping with menace.

He tried to spit on my shoe in reply as he passed me by, so I cuffed him once for his temerity. He had the smarts not to pursue it further.

:_Now, where's the best place to go about getting information_,: I thought considering to myself.

Merchants heard everything, but the old skinflints that managed to protect their wares long enough to sell anything out here wouldn't let it go without a price, and as soon as I left they'd be happily selling info on a possible new mark in town. Some of the higher-ranking thugs in the area might be keeping tabs purely in the interests of guarding their turf from threats and challenges to their status, but they wouldn't like an outsider poking his nose into their business. I could fight them over it, but I'd upset the balance of power around here by damaging some thug's status by beating the crap out of him. Any perceived weakness was grounds for the lesser ranked thugs to move in. I wasn't there to make waves, I wanted to just slip in, find what I was after and slip back out without anyone the wiser.

:_It's the kids then_,: I thought, not unhappy with it.

The street kids of the Rukon District were everywhere and no-one ever paid any attention to them except to try to catch them when they inevitably stole food. If there was anything to hear or know they heard about it or knew someone who'd know. They were easy to buy too (once you got past their initial mistrust and hard-won wariness of strange adult males) one good meal and they'd tell you everything useful they knew.

I took my time, circling the market square and scanning the possibilities carefully. There were three different gangs on raid today, I could see them skirting the edges of the square and crowding in the back alleys, just waiting for the right chance to strike. Ah, it took me back. One of the gangs was made of mostly older boys, it wouldn't be long before those ones would be starting to work their way into the nearby thug rankings. They would probably know something and tell it to me but it was just as likely that they'd try to surround me and beat me up for money (or kicks). I wasn't interested in wasting time fighting punks. The other two sets of kids were younger, clad in clothes that were more hole than cloth, and so skinny if you turned any one of them sideways you'd loose him. I noted that they were also less in number than was usual for a raid.

:_Huh, must've been a plague or fever hit recently_,: I thought to myself.

It usually happened in the summer, the hot sun and recent rains of the winter made the perfect nesting-grounds for things that carried sickness, and kids generally didn't have whole lot to protect them in the first place. It took a small effort of will for me to shake off the memories trying to take hold of a time when, as the leader of our little family one of my own fell sick and faded day by day and I'd tried desperately to get a way to cure him. I'd stolen medicine, extra food, blankets... but nothing had worked. Poor Tomi had still died, with Haru following soon after him, taken in the crossfire of a drunken brawl while trying to beg food.

I was feeling puckish that day so I picked the wealthiest, most prosperous-looking merchant in the small run-down little market square, the one who seemed like he could stand to loose a little of his merchandise and wandered over to inspect his wares like I was gonna buy something. He looked at me with a combination of wariness and avarice as I looked his goods over. I reached for a nearby basket of woven rushes from the river filled with small, hard little apples and pretended to loose my balance.

"Hey! Watch it!" he cried angrily as I pitched forward into the center of his selling mat.

"Gosh sir, I'm really sorry," I said not feeling a bit of it as the old skinflint tried to shove me off without helping me up.

Right on cue both groups of kids darted out from the alleyways and made a textbook running snatch, gathering up armfuls of food while I purposefully floundered around, tangling myself up with the old merchant in his blanket, and "accidentally" knocking him down when he got up. It was funny, seeing him fall on his ass a couple of times and curse the skies, calling on his ancestors to witness his misfortunes. I actually felt pretty good about it. I took careful note of the direction the children scampered off to and, since I'd had my fun, I released the poor merchant and helped him straighten up. Since I sort of felt a little bad about ruining his display of wares I flipped him a silver coin, worth probably twice what he'd lost to the kids, and said

"You never saw me."

A sharp look entered his eyes and I could see it written on his face that he was thinking of who, in the delicate pecking order of the streets he should inform _first _of a possible new target on the haystacks.

:_Ah Hangdog, it never changes_,: I thought to myself.

Part of me was sort of glad to see that some things never changed, the rest of me was sad about it.

I blurred into a flashstep out of the market, disappearing as soon as the merchant took his eyes off me. I knew all of the places that the alley they'd taken went too, and all of the likeliest places that the kids would use as a gathering place to divide their wares and discuss whether or not they'd been followed. I flashstepped over to the nearest one and waited, leaning against a nearby wall that looked stable enough to hold me. They'd be down this way in due time.

While I waited, I watched a small dogfight between two ragged curs in the nearby alley way. They were both fighting over a scrap of meat and really going at it with their all. I wondered absently if I ought to make a mental bet on which one would win. The fur flew as the air was filled with the sound of fierce growls and yips of pain. The dogs scored on each other pretty badly in some places, bad enough to weaken one another, and I figured it was going to be a draw and they'd have to split the meat, but then, out of the shadows of the alleyway behind them, a third contender came. He was a little larger than the two fighting dogs and more importantly, he was fresh for the fight. It didn't take a genius to figure out which way this was going to go. Sure enough, a few minutes later the new dog had overpowered and drove off the first two dogs and took the prize meat. He lay down contentedly under the rim of a barrel on its side and ate the meat with an aura of smugness about him.

I frowned a little at the scene that had just unfolded before me. Something about it bugged me for some reason... but I couldn't pinpoint why. I shrugged, dismissing it from my mind, it'd probably come to me in time.

It wasn't a minute later when the sound of small, bare feet pelting against the dirt of the street echoed up through the alley to where I was, growing steadily louder as they ran in my direction. The boys were looking behind them for the most part even as they slowed, sure that they were safe from pursuit. They were so focused on ascertaining safety and seeing what they'd got that they didn't notice me, leaning casually back and observing them.

They were two distinct groups but I was betting that after this raid they'd be working together. The leader of the smallest gang was actually the largest of them and I detected a faint whiff of soul force about him. The leader of the second gang was younger, more uncertain of himself; group dynamics would probably make him the Second in the new gang.

"Yo," I greeted them, catching their attention and startling them.

True to my estimate of him, as soon as they got out their sounds of surprise and turned to see who had managed to sneak up on them, the older boy stepped out in front and took a defensive position between me and his comrades. I smiled a little at that, approving of his instinct to protect his own. It sometimes seemed like only yesterday when _I _was this kid.

"R'lax," I said. "Ain't here t' take yer food."

They heard the street cant and recognized that I was indeed one of them, but at the same time they got warier too, some of the adult male types around these parts made nice just because they liked 'em young. I held up a purse to show my intentions and jingled, letting them hear the coins clink softly. The older boy frowned and eyed me suspiciously, even as I could see him mentally tallying how much food and fresh water the coins in my purse would buy.

"An' I ain't the type t' go lookin' fer a _pretty boy_," I added, sensing the reason for the wary look in their eyes.

"Wotcha want then?' the older leader asked me.

"Information," I said. "Happen a young street-ear like yerself 'ud hear things...?" I trailed off into a suggestion.

"Wot kinna things?" he asked next.

It wasn't an agreement that he'd work with me, simply a way of saying he might be interested. I was to show him that I was willing to bargain with him.

"Interesting things," I replied, pulling out a copper and flipping it to him. The kid caught it deftly from the air.

I couldn't contain my smile of amusement as he promptly bit into it and ran a quick eye over it to check for shave marks.

"Hear lotsa things inna day," he said after verifying its authenticity. "We c'n talk easier back at the flop though."

This in and of itself could be something of a test, if I agreed too quickly they'd probably read it as me lying about not looking for a pretty boy and try to find some way to get rid of me. Also, if I followed them back, they could easily set up an ambush with their mates by sending a signal to a listening runner along the path back. I'd done that trick a time or two myself.

"Nah then," I negated. "I'll meecha at Steadies, y' know where that is, aye?"

Steadies was a well-known bar in the district, they served actual _cooked _food as well as drink. Meeting me there would be neutral ground and it would give them time to head back to their flop and hide the food in their horde. The boys eyebrows raised a bit, I was treating them like a full-grown thug; meeting in public, and tacitly paying in advance, that was the way it was done in the _adult _world there... usually that was the way a guy arranged a hit.

"Don' hev th' skills t' kill a mun!" he protested scornfully.

I couldn't hold back my derisive snort. The day I went looking for some wet-eared little baby to do my killin' they'd better be laying out my squad funeral!

"Just info," I said firmly and walked out of the alley way.

An hour or so later I waited at Steadies for my expected guests. I'd grabbed one of the tables set up outside (under guard to keep people from walking off without paying of course) and had it filled with real cooked food, enough to feed a small starving army. They'd be more amenable to talking with me if their stomachs weren't full of empty. It wasn't long a wait; out of the alleys (in different directions and in ones and twos) a small goup of about ten mixed boys and girls (all skinny as rails) entered. The two leaders, both the elder and the smaller, met me face to face.

"We're all here, watcha need?" the older boy asked.

"Hava seat," I said, seating myself and laying my hands out flat on the table as a gesture of goodwill.

There wasn't anything in Hangdog that came _fresh_, all of it had been somewhere else before arriving in this sector. The stew had bits of meat that it was probably wisest not to question the origins of, it would most likely either meow at you or squeak. And that was the "fresh" stuff at one of the better inns nearby, I'd heard that some of the _other _places in this hell-hole featured menu's that were made of the scraps that no-one would feed to kill a rat. The bread looked okay, but their 'butter" smeared on it was grease from the cooking fat that they used to fry up ends of vegetables that were probably _only _half-rotten by the time they made it there. The swill they passed off as wine was a collection of all the dregs tapped from the bottoms of the barrels of all the better inns in the other districts, and the poison they called 'sake' was a rotgut moonshine that could take the rust off a steel ships hull. I was betting that the only reason that the sewage they served at this place hadn't killed anyone yet was because the alcohol that came with the meal killed off any virulent bacteria in the stomach before it could grow.

:_I've gotten spoiled by the academy_,: I thought to myself in partial amusement.

I'd ordered a lot of the food, it wasn't _good _but there was plenty of it, and the kids as they emerged from the alleys eyed the pile of slop like they'd suddenly been presented with an unexpected bounty. I wouldn't touch it with a barge-pole but I could recall a time in my life when I would have jumped at the chance to eat as much of it as I could without hesitation.

The children needed no more encouragement, and fell to with a will. It was interesting to note that there was no fighting between what was essentially two different gangs of kids, usually there would be some squabbling between them, over territory and grub if nothing else. That told me that the two of them knew of each other or had had contact in the past.

"Heard some rumors," I said as the furor over the food calmed down a bit. "About somethin' attacking in the night. Something about the shadows?"

The older leader boy and a young girl from the other camp under the younger leader, I scented Reiatsu on her too, exchanged a look. Now that I looked at them, the two of them looked like they hadn't been getting much sleep. I had at first simply marked down the hollowed-out eyes in their faces as one more sign of hunger but now I recognized sleeplessness and fear.

"Whad'ja hear?" the younger boy asked, his manner a bit wary.

"Nuthin' much," I said. "Just heard someone mention that there's something out there, attacking people and it doesn't seem to be a man."

A couple of the kids exchanged a long look, I wasn't sure if it was because I'd accidentally slipped back into the better speech I'd mastered in the Seireitei or if they were simply trying to decide whether or not to trust me. Finally the girl, seemingly possessed of a spine, or at least too afraid to keep silent, said

"We call 'em th' Shadows," she said a little hesitantly. "We lost _three _of our mates to 'em."

"There's more than one of them?" I questioned carefully.

"We dunno," the older-boy leader said. "Only one of our mates has ever spotted one, and he really couldn't say much about it."

" 'E wuz scared stiff with fear an' wuden sleep fer a week," another kid volunteered, it was hard to tell if he was a boy or a girl under all the dirt.

"They come out at night," the girl said. "When the shadows fall thickest. They only seem t' target other kids like me an' him."

She pointed to the older leader.

"Kids that have reiatsu?" I asked.

They looked blankly back at me and I demonstrated quickly by summoning up a small light-globe of reiatsu.

"Yeah," she confirmed.

"Mitsu and Cori could both do that, Cori was a little stronger an' he got took first. Sumat o' the other gangs in the area ben sayin' th' same things. Ben sayin' that some o' their mates got tookt in th' night too. One kid said he saw one. He said that it looked like a shadow, came out of one of the shadows itself, made all of nothing, flew over at his mate and wrapped around him like a blanket. Next thing he knew his mate was gone. Disappeared. Nuthin' left of 'im."

"Made all of nothing?" I asked, trying to keep my disbelief from my voice.

"Yeah," the boy said, a little defensively. "I thought I saw one once too, just a glimpse outta the corner o' my eye. It looked like a blur of blackness, like someone took a dark night sky and put it on the ground, kinna like th' fog, only black as tar. It c'n move on its own, saw it move along the ground like a snake or a spider. Thought I wuz seein' things but then it stopped an' it felt like it was looking right at me, 'cept there weren't no eyes. Y'know that feeling y'get when someone's watchin' you on yeer back... felt like that. Give a covey a real case o' the collywobbles, it do."

"And yer mates disappeared?" I asked next.

"Yeah," the boy said. "I lost one a few weeks ago, back when the attacks first started. He was in the pile with the rest of us--"

I nodded understanding, in the cooler months of spring and of course winter, the kids all slept in a large pile surrounded and covered by as many blankets as they could scrounge, to preserve warmth. Me an' my gang had done the same once.

"He was beside me when we went to sleep, when I woke up he was completely gone. We all tried lookin' fer 'im, asking around to see if he'd got snatched up by a flesh-peddler or somethin' but he was just gone without a single trace."

"Hunh... Innerestin'," I muttered to myself.

There was a chance, a good probability in fact, that if this had been an isolated incident, the missing kid would have just run off and gone to another sector... but it _wasn't_ an isolated incident. There were other kids missing in other districts apparently, enough of them to make even adults wary if what I heard in that tavern that night was anything to go by.

"And you said this has been happening to other gangs beside yer own?" I asked next.

"Yeah, Kilto's gang down south 'cross Pinstreet had one o' his taken in the night," the older boy leader said. "Shezie's had three of his go missin'... here one night, gone the next. Ketsu's the one I heard it from that saw it, an' he ain't in the habit o' lyin' to his mates. If he said he saw sommat, he saw it alright."

"Iffen it were Shezie, i'da said it was just him puffin' up ta scare the littles," the younger boy gang-leader said. "But Ketzu's a good one and as honest as they come here-abouts. He even warned me an' Shira here about the Shadows first chance he got."

"Hm," I said, adding up the facts as I could guess them.

They _could _be makin' it all up, but by the haunted looks in the eyes of the two kids with Soul Force in the group, I didn't think they were. These kids _knew _something was out there, something they didn't know how to fight. The little girl in particular looked like she was partly resigned, partly terrified of her fate. Just like Rukia had looked. I made a snap decision that I was going to investigate further.

"And yer sure it weren't solid?" I asked next. "Like it didn't have a bone-mask or it wasn't missin' holes from it?"

"Nah then, _them_ critters usually stay outside the Line," the younger gang-leader said confidently. "This be sommat _else_."

The edges of Rukon's outer Districts all had something called The Line, it was a dividing line that established the edge between where the Soul Society proper began, separating it from the Outer. The Outer was a place that was not quite a place, a no-mans land bewteen the Soul Society and what was generally called the Dangai, or the dividing world. The Dangai was that plane between the Soul Society and the Mortal Realm, the one that forever seemed to have the Cleaners running through it at all the _wrong _times. The Gates in the Seireitei were all portals to the path that led through the Dividing World and the opposite Gate on the mortal realm. There could be Portals made anywhere that would connect the two (as well as various other places like Hueco Mundo) but they were notoriously unstable and difficult to hold up for very long. I'd heard that Urahara had done research on ways to stabilize portals in his tenure as Twefth Division's captain but when Kurotsuchi took over, the attempts to build more stable Portals had been abandoned.

Hollows, or even Menos Grandes, that could penetrate past the immense spiritual barrier that was The Line were beyond just rare, they were practically unheard of. The spiritual power it would take for a Hollow to penetrate the spiritual barrier would have to be massive and concentrated. Hollows didn't have the intelligence to do so, though they seemed to be able to manipulate portals to the living world by instinct, their efforts were basic, crude, and easily detected. Even Uruhara's gateway into the Soul Society had definitely _not _gone unnoticed by Twefth Divisions monitors when Ichigo had dropped in to rescue Rukia. For something or someone to be able to put up a portal into the Rukon district and do it _undetected_...

:_I'd say it's impossible, but recent days have been showing that the things we thought were impossible weren't as hard as they seem_,: I thought.

What if the kids were right? What if it was something else? But what else could it be? Hollows, Arrancars and Espada all left a certain signature when the Portaled into an area, a signature that was easily detected. Even if their manipulation of spirit energy when they opened a portal or a gateway didn't give them away, the sudden influx of Reiatsu sure as hell did, so it couldn't be them.

:_I'da smelled 'em if they were here or had been here lately_,: I thought.

Deciding to be on the safe side I mentally nudged Zabimaru and borrowed his sense of smell, sucking some of the air nearby through my teeth and rolling it over my tongue, tasting it and sorting all the different smells, spiritual and physical, out on the back of my mouth as I breathed out. Nuthin' unusual at first. But wait...

I leaned closer to the older boy next to me and caught something.

"Hold still," I commanded absently.

I pulled in another breath, running it again over my teeth, sorted out his scent, the scent of his mates and the cling of the Rukon District and at last caught something. It smell/tasted smokey-sweet, heavy with a slightly cloying edge to it. It wasn't a human soul, and Hollows smelled like burnt hair and graveyard flowers.

"You got something of his on you?" I asked him next.

"What's it to ya?" the boy demanded, hand automatically straying to his pocket.

"I'm a tracker," I said shortly. "I c'n track a man by his soul-scent, better'n a dog. That thing yer mate left behind has got the scent of the thing that took him on it too. I might be able to use it to track whatever it is down. Lemme borrow that thing."

The boy looked at me with blatant suspicion on his face.

"I don' want yer trinket,' I said, letting my exasperation show on my face. "I'm not so bad up that I'd wanna steal from a kid!"

Hesitantly, the boy reached in his pocket and handed it over. It was a small toy, a paper yo-yo made of a small stick and a long ribbon of wax paper wrapped around the top that could be flicked out at length, a little like Zabimaru, although I was sure he wouldn't be too pleased with analogy. I brought the toy up to my face and breathed in. To this day I still felt a little weird about it, but it worked for me the scents brushed over my tongue, letting me get a sense of thier owners. The most obvious and heavy scents were that of the boy and the previous owner, but underpining both of those scents I could just detect a faint trace of something else. I'd never before smelled anything like it.

"What the--?" I muttered to myself.

Trying not to feel self-conscious about it I actually had to put out my tongue and touch it to the object itself to get a better reading. It helped, the scents became stronger and clearer.

Still strange. Powerful and strange. I pinpointed what that strange cloying scent reminded me of... incense. The kind of incense they burned at temples as offerings. The underlying feeling of power and a very odd sense of otherness to it told me that whatever had made this scent wasn't of human origin and it wasn't anything I'd run across before.

Just because I'd never seen it before didn't mean someone else hadn't though. I was young as far as Soul Reapers counted years, only a couple of decades old; some of the Soul Reapers in the Seireitei were centuries old, it was said that the Head Captain had been around when Jesus was nailed up. It wouldn't surprise me. The next logical step in my investigation would be to ask around, see if anyone knew anything.

:_Anything about a predator that seems to be making Rukon kids with spirit-powers disappear, that supposedly comes from out of the Shadows and smells like temple-offerings_.: I thought to myself.

The Reapers in the Seireitei probably wouldn't be too terribly interested in the Rukon kid part but the part where they could infiltrate past the Line without being detected should get thier attention. Still, if I wanted to bother the Captains with my own pet project I should investigate more thoroughly before going to them.

"Can you sense him mister?" The kid asked me after a minute.

"Yeah," I answered absently. "I'd like ta take a look around yer place, see if I can't get a lead on which way the bugger went before I try any other leads."

The kids all exchanged long speaking looks for a moment until three of them shrugged a 'why not?' at the leader and he said

"We'll take you there on account o' you findin' whut happened to Zan, but don't go tellin' no-one else where we flop."

It was almost cute the way he tried to look so tough and manly about it when I was twice his size and could take him in a blink. Still, the pride of a young man was a touchy thing, and he had his own status within his group to look after, so I nodded solemnly and spat in my palm.

"I'll be in an' out fer a look-see," I promised, doing my best to keep a straight face.

He spat in his own and shook on it.

"M' name's Aki, this here's Lota," he gestured to the younger leader-boy.

"Renji," I said easily.

The name Abarai wasn't uncommon here-abouts, a lot of littles had spent the first five or six years of their life at Barai House, being tended by the onee-san's before being turned out to fend for themselves so that there was room and food to feed more infants.

I tried not to bruise his dignity by wiping my palm off right away, I at least waited until he'd turned to lead his group on its way back to their roost. It didn't take more than a few turnings of the familiar streets that I knew like the back of my hand for me to recognize the way we were going. With a churning feeling of dread and anticipation I continued following the motley gang of street kids through he streets, fully recognizing that they were giving me a bit of the run around.

:_Well, well_,: I thought with an internal shake of my head. :_I certainly never expected to see this old place again.:_

Waiting before me was a familiar run-down shack, sheltered partly by a nearby wood. The river nearby gave easier access to water though after having flowed through the city it was neither fresh nor clean. There was better hunting in the woods and the stream but not so good that it was a reliable source of food. The shack itself was run-down, the walls had holes and missing planks and the cracks between the boards were never filled in all the way so the wind passed through the walls like water through a sieve. The ceiling leaked and the floor was tramped down dirt. Still, it had always been better than nothing, and its position was easily defensible. Even in the fifty some-odd years since I left, it seemed this place was still housing orphans.

"Here we be," Aki said, pointing to his home. The other kids went on ahead and I followed gingerly behind them.

My mind insisted on showing me memories of my own time there. The apple tree she had used to like to stand under in spring while I shook the branches to rain flower petals down on her. Where she used to bully me into washing clothes and hair alike, brandishing a scrub brush threateningly if I didn't fall into line, prompting the other boys to tease me about who was really running the gang. The place we used to bring our fish to cook up. The time she'd yelled at me for picking on a poor defenseless bunny rabbit and I'd tried to tell her that it was the same as eating fish and she'd said no it wasn't and we'd gotten into a fight over it... which she'd won. As usual. Hard times, but looking back on it, good times as well. We'd been a family. I was still surprised by how much I missed that.

I shook my head at myself; now was not the time for woolgathering, I had work to do.

I entered and looked around, sucking in deep breaths and brushing my tongue over the captured air to taste and sort out the scents. The air was heavily laced with the scent of the current tenants naturally, the light slightly musky smell of their bodies I mentally put aside, trying to sort out the scents underneath them. There was the scent of the outdoors they brought in with them, as well as faint traces of food and soap. I was about to give it up as a lost cause when I ran across a cold spot. The air in one particular place was icy and as soon as I breathed in the smokey-sweet cloying smell of incense was thick enough to be called a stench.

"Found it," I muttered. I searched over the area where the air was cold and stank of whatever creature had come and gone, but there were no other traces, no leavings left behind, no clawmarks, no hair or fur or bone. Just a spot of cold air, a scent and...

:_I can sense a residual energy trace_,: I thought, feeling in the center of the cold spot.

Kido wasn't really my thing, someone like Rukia or the boys and girls in Fourth or Second Squad would have been able to tell me what kind of creature made it, where it came from, how long ago it had been here and whether or not it was still alive, but that was thier thing. My thing was "beat it with my sword until it can't get up anymore" that's what I did well.

:_It's not a Hollow, and... I'm pretty sure it isn't even **Human **in origin_...: I thought, puzzled.

Human souls, no matter how twisted or debased carried a certain signature about their origins, a core of themselves that later lives and reincarnations were built around. I'd heard someone compare it to the way an oyster created a pearl by layering the stuff around a bit of dirt, the Kido energy eventually got great enough for a human soul to become a Soul Reaper if it was so inclined. This carried none of that energy signature. it was a mystery.

There were some things I could tell about it though, one major point stood out. Whatever the thing was that made the cold spot... it was strong. Not in size or strength but in pure, raw power.

"Hn, thanks kid," I said to the boy and the friends that had followed him. "I guess I found something useful."

I turned to go and was stopped by a tugging on my sleeve. The girl with the spiritual-power looked up at me with wide, helpless, pleading eyes.

"What if it comes back?" she asked. "Me an the others' we don't have any way of fightin' it, so what if it comes back? It's gonna take me next, an' I don' wanna go."

I paused.

:_Good point_,: I thought.

I couldn't sty there and guard them, much as I might see the rightness in keeping an eye on a buch of helpless kids, I hardly thought that my boss would be willing to part with his paper-filer for the mission. Secondly, I wasn't going to find out what this thing was by hanging around there, I needed access to the libraries and databases in the Seireitei, which contained data collected over the course of hundreds of years of Soul Reaping. There was bound to be some mention of something like this in it. I wasn't a world-class detective and research wasn't exactly my thing either...

:_Come to think of i__t_,: I thought with chagrin. :_A lot of things aren't my thing_.:

It was something I'd have to work on.

::_**If you over-specialize, you breed in weakness**_.:;

:_I thought you weren't talking to me_,: I said.

Zabimaru gave me the spiritual equivalent of a humph and ignored me. Typical. Still, good advice. I was something of a one-trick wonder, I could fight and I could track but my fighting ability was limited by my weakness in the area of strategy (as demonstrated painfully by that pink-haired Espada asshole) and tracking didn't do me a whole lot of good if I didn't know what I was looking for. I'd already achieved Bankai so I wasn't going to get any stronger, I'd just have to learn to fight _better_.

"Here Kid," I said, pulling out a thread of reiatsu and carefully weaving it into a ball.

It was one of the more passive Kido spells out there and as such, not my forte. Usually I just balled up my Kido and lobbed it, that is if it didn't get away from me first and just strt blowing holes in the surrounding vicinity. Kido spells that required more delicacy and concentration I left up to fighters like Rukia who had the focus (and the attention span) to master the intricacies of the spells. Still oddly, this is one that I actually remembered how to do fairly well. I scuffed a large circle on the floor and then infused my reiatsu inside the circle erectign an inactive barrier.

"If you see another one of those Shadows," I said, "You and all your mates run into the circle. Then you summon up your own reiatsu into your hand and push it down on the circle. It'll activate the barrier. Nothing will be able to cross in from the outside, and as long as none of you go out and break the circle then you should be safe long enough for the sun to rise. It'll only work once though. I should be back in a couple of days, if something really is after you then that means I can just wait for it to show up."

"Are you gonna kill it?" she said hopefully.

"I don't know yet," I said honestly. "It depends on my orders."

With that, I walked out of my old home and flash-stepped my way back to the Seireitei. By now it was starting to get dark as I'd spent most of the afternoon in the Rukon District. Kuchiki the Elder probably had more paperwork waiting for me. I should amend that report anyway. I'd eaten and hour or two earlier so there was no need to drop by the kitchens and I headed straight up to my quarters. As I'd expected, there was a whole new stack of papers waiting for me, all routine stuff it looked like. Things like reports form the Reapers out on feild missions, weekly food requisition forms, and other things like that. It shouldn't take too long.

Aware now that there was something else out there hunting people with spiritual power I paid closer attention to the list and type of the targets and victims in the feild reports, searching for a hint that my new little gremlin might be active in the wider world, but I didn't notice any. I added a synopsis of the reports to the weekly log book and added my own afternoons work in red ink at the bottom of the last page so he wouldn't skip over it. It only took about two hours for me to finish my paperwork, which was a minor miracle in and of itself. I had something of a free evening in front of me it looked like. All I had to do was drop off the forms I'd just finished on my captains desk and see if there was anything else he wanted from me. Probably.

I knocked on the shoji of the Captain's office and quarters and waited to be acknowledged.

"Enter," his voice replied with cool precision.

I slid the door aside and walked in, placing my forms in the usual spot for new ones, directly under the less new ones that he hadn't gotten to yet. As usual, he didn't look up from what he was doing or acknowledge that I was waiting there on his permission to be released for the day. I was not a huge fan of this particular ritual, it smacked of me being some kind of pup being brought to heel. And that sort of irked me. But it hid it, as i usually did, under the neutral mask of an obedient subordinate, and waited with little to no outward sign of impatience. Byakuya Kuchiki was not the kind of guy who'd be rushed. He finished perusing the form in front of him and signed off on the bottom.

"I was called over after the Captain's general meeting this afternoon by Head Captain Yamamoto and Captain Hitsugaya," he said with no preamble as usual.

Apparently, manners were things reserved for his peers.

"I was congratulated on my lieutenant's loyalty and dedication to the organization," he noted absently, eyes already flicking over the next form.

Captain Kuchiki wasn't exactly known for his conviviality and sparkling conversational skills either... rather the opposite in fact. If he was saying something, then he had a point to it. I just waited. It was a given that no-one could play the waiting game like he could (certainly not me, unless there was a fight involved I generally had the attention span of a butterfly) but I was getting better at it. Sort of. It wasn't driving me _as _crazy anyway.

He signed off on another form and I restrained my impatience with an effort. Get the _point _already dammit!

"I was not aware," he said at last. "That testing the loyalties of a most wayward and insolent Sixth Squad Lieutenant fell to the head of Tenth Squad and his own lieutenant."

"People start getting paranoid when the Punishment Squad starts barging in with its ninja skills," I said. "Hitsugaya and Matsumoto are well liked and trusted. In this case, they're probably better suited to sniffing out intrigue an' stuff."

"An'stuff..." Kuchiki said injecting my slightly colorful slang with an overly present sense of dignity, thereby pointing out that it was inappropriate.

"I suppose you may have a point," he said after a long pause. "However, the question as to your whereabouts this afternoon and your continued association outside of the Seireitei _did_ come up."

It wasn't a question, it was a command for further explanation.

"I put it in the log book so it's nothing serious, I was only curious about it that's all," I replied. "Seems I found me a mystery."

Kuchiki gestured that I should be seated on a nearby cushion and elaborate to him the precise nature of this mystery. I took seiza on the cushion and proceeded to do just that, giving him the basic overveiw of the anomalies I'd sensed the night before, a detailed report of the sniffing about and information-gathering that I had done in Hangdog today, and concluded with my desire not to say anything until I had something a little more concrete to go on.

"Hm," was all he said, frowning ever so slightly.

He was mulling it over. For a man who could flash-step like no-one's business, I had never seen Captain Kuchiki act in haste.

"Your impression of this.. Shadow, was it?"

"That's what they're callin' it," I confirmed.

"Your impression is that it is not human." His tone sounded downright skeptical.

I shrugged helplessly and said

"Yeah, I know it sound's weird, but humanity has a basic scent underlying all the individual scents, and this Shadow-thing didn't have that. That's the only way I know how to explain it."

"Hm," he said again, still frowning ever so slightly in thought.

"You ever hear o' somethin' like that Captain?" I asked curiously.

I figured it couldn't hurt, the guy was pretty old after all, he had to have run across something like it in however long he'd been around.

"The signs of the entity you've described is unfamiliar to me," he said, waving me to my feet and turning his attention back to the forms in front of him.

"However, I have yet to work with a person who possesses your unique skill at detection. It may be that the being you have heard described is already known but simply filed under another set of refferences. You may look into it, provided that it does not conflict with your other duties."

That was all the approval I needed as I rose to my feet and bowed at his tacit dismissal. I was free for the evening.

* * *

**Ah, and the plot thickens. We have an enemy's name, but what's this? It doesn't seem human?As for the dog fight... could it be foreshadowing?  
**

**Clocking in at over eight thousand words, you almost need a Snickers Bar to get through this one. **

**Zabimaru makes a breif cameo, but this definately isn't the last time we'll hear from him. After all, I like Zabimaru. I saw this funny fanart of a chibi Renji hugging on a big (proper) Zabimaru who was sweat dropping in embarrasment and I was very amused by it. I think I want to make it me avi. And as far as that Zanpakutou arc Zabimaru goes, as far as I'm concerned, if I haven't seen it, it doesn't exist. So we're working off the real Zabimaru, who, for those who are not anal about details like me and didn't spend thier time looking it up on Wikipedia, happens to be a Nue. A Nue, for those who don't know (myself included until I looked it up) is a sort of Japanese Chimera. The following is a quote lifted wholesale from Wikipedia on the matter...**

A **nue** (鵺) is a legendary creature found in Japanese folklore. It is described as having the head of a monkey, the body of a raccoon dog, the legs of a tiger, and a snake as a tail. According to the legend, a nue can transform into a black cloud and fly. Due to its appearance, it is sometimes referred to as a _Japanese chimera_[_citation needed_]. Nue are supposed to be bringers of misfortune and illness.[_citation needed_]

According to The Tale of the Heike, Emperor Konoe, the Emperor of Japan, became sick after having terrible nightmares every night, and a dark cloud appeared at two o'clock in the morning on roof of the palace in Kyoto during the summer of 1153. The story says that the samurai Minamoto no Yorimasa staked-out the roof one night and fired an arrow into the cloud, out of which fell a dead nue. Yorimasu then supposedly sank the body in the Sea of Japan.

In a local expansion of the story, the nue's corpse floated into a certain bay, and the locals, fearing a curse, buried it. A mound which exists today is supposed to be this grave.

**I thought it interesting and seful that the true form of Renji's Zanpaktou would come from an ancient legend. Pay attention to that, there'll be a quiz later. Or, at least, it'll pop up again.**


	7. Sixth Sense

It was a little late in the evening to be bugging people for information, there was a proper time and a way to go about things if you wanted people to want to help you out. It wasn't a _whole _lot different from the sorts of dealings that happened at street-level in the Rukongai. The constant bargaining and trading of favors was how people got things done in that part of town, a twist of tobacco for a length of cloth, or a well-repaired knife for a blanket. In the Seireitei, if someone (as they so often did) wanted something done unofficially or to aqquire something off the books, he or she might seek out those who valued certain things and offer a fair trade. There were enough similarities for me to get by well enough, I'd been pretty good at the dicker and deal on the streets and I wasn't out of practice at it here either. I generally kept a mental tab on people who might have information I'd find useful (mainly Ukitake, but there were others too) and acquired items I knew they might like on guard against a time at a later date when I might need a favor or some info. It wasn't a bribe, it was greasing the wheels a bit.

:_I think I still have that tin of Silvertip Blue tea, for Ukitake_,: I thought running through my somewhat meagre inventory of favored things that could be used to smooth the way.

Ukitake was a well-known tea connoisseur, and in the two months that Rukia had been gone on her first mission in the human world I had choked down forty-nine cups of the various hell-brews he had conjured up for me and did it with a smile on my face too. I detested tea and I really didn't see the appeal of it; all it was was someone taking a bunch of leaves and boiling them in water for pity's sake! If I wanted to drink boiled plant matter I could just as easily throw grass clippings in a pot of hot water; it was the same thing and to my lights it tasted about the same too. Grass clippings didn't cost anything, and for some reason I was unable to fathom, people like Ukitake would spend whole months salaries on a single tin of tea leaves! But Captain Ukitake could wax eloquent (which was one thing he did very well) for hours about the subtleties of the herbs and interplay of the different flavors. It still tasted like boiled plant to _me_.

If Ukitake didn't know anything about what I was looking for (the man was a famous scholar after all) I'd probably have to approach Twelfth Division. Lieutenant Nemu (no way was I approaching the creepy captain) never socialized with the rest of us lieutenants, she was always trailing along one step behind her captain. Sure, it was the common position for most of us vice-captains to be in; a Captain's back-up , their right hand, their wingmen (or -women) and to be honest, many of us second-seaters took pride in that (Kira, worryingly so) but she took it to the extreme. The rest of us got out from under everything once in a while, but as far as I could tell she didn't. She didn't seem to have much of a personality near as I could tell either, it was "Captain Kurosuchi" this and "Mayuri-sama" that. I had discovered one thing she _did _seem to like though, Nemu Kurotsuchi had a deep interest in the Human World. Unlike her father it wasn't completely academic either, she really seemed facinated by them. I had brought back some trinkets and strange objects from the living world last time I'd been there, stored against the occasion I might need something to bribe with.

:_Who else might know something_?: I wondered to myself.

:_I could try the archives_.: I mentally cringed at having to wade my way through row after row of bookshelves. Even with the organization in it, trying to find something when you were not certain exactly what you were looking for would probably be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Defiantely a court of last resort for me.

:_Third Division's out, Kira is as young as I am, even if he is a scholarly kinda guy_,: I decided mentally going down my list of candidates based on what I was looking for and who might know best where and how to find it.

Ise Nanao might know something, she was kinda up there in the years. If nothing else she probably knew every book in the library personally and she might be able to point me in the right direction. If the first two didn't pan out, she'd be a good third candidate to pester and bribe. She'd probably have and easy bribe too, just give her a stick with which to beat that Captain of her's off her with!

So I had several possible avenues to pursue-- tomorrow. As for tonight...

:_I think it was a good idea that I had earlier to work on strengthening some of my weak spots_,: I thought consideringly.

I wasn't going to get any stronger than I was now, having already achieved Bankai, so I guessed I was just going to have to make myself a _better _fighter. I'd start with trying to find new ways to work around Zabimaru's few weak spots and go from there. The reason weak spots were weak spots for me was because they just didn't interest me, so I didn't learn them. Stuff like Kido and strategy all seemed like mental games and I already knew that cerebral-type stuff wasn't as fun as getting out there and kicking ass. I wasn't a big fan of Kido, and I figured I could wait a _little _while on that. Zabimaru wasn't going to be releasing his seals on me anytime soon anyway. As for strategy, granted that it was an essential part of fighting, but I'd always figured that I knew enough to get by. The fight with that pink-haired Espada had made me re-think my position. I now felt that it was something I'd better learn if I wanted to be able to beat the really tough guys; people and creatures that had centuries of experience on me had had a long time to learn that shit, so if I wanted to fight them and have a chance of winning, I'd better learn how to _out-think_ them too.

:_Unfortunately all that strategy crap is usually written in **books**_,: I thought, cringing internally.

Don't get me wrong, I had nothing against scholars, but spending all my time with my nose pressed in a book trying to absorb and understand a buncha esoteric gobbledygook written by some guy that's been dead for centuries just simply didn't appeal to me. I was more of a go out and attack something kinda guy, spending time trying to be a _brain _just wasn't my style. Besides, those scholarly strategy tracts were mostly written for other scholars, and as such, they might as well be written in a foreign language. Half of it was weird-ass poetry and the other half some long-winded example of what the damn poem was supposed to be about that made absolutely no sense. Just one time I'd like to see a strategy book written in plain language! Something that said "If the asshole ya wanna take down is too big for ya, go after something he likes an' he'll be so busy rushing around trying to get it back you can easily put him on his ass" instead of "Attack Wei to rescue Zhao" or something like that. Pictures would be nice. Those books all blabbed about ancient battles with weird names between people I've never heard of... not really helpful. It would probably be easier for me to get if I could just see it, but they insisted on throwing a buncha useless names and dates at me like it's supposed to help me.

:_Yeah, maybe I'll just put that off fer a while an' see what else I can't come up with for Zabimaru instead_,: I thought, fully knowing that I was putting off a boring task.

So decided, I went to a nearby training court and put my mind to thinking about ways to get around that stupid 'three moves' limit of his. Zabimaru was a great sword but he did have one inconvenience; once he was fully extended I could only do three major moves with him before I had to re-coil him into rest position because his momentum was gone. There had to be some way to rebuild his momentum without bringing it back into rest position.

:_I guess I'll have to think outside the box_.:

I took a few practice swings with Zabimaru fully extended and didn't really see how I was supposed to keep his momentum going when I was the base that held the energy to power his attack. A snake needed to be _coiled _in order to spring...

:_Or does it_?: I wondered to myself.

They also found a lot of thier power in motion. What if I used my whole body as a basis for the swing instead of just my arm? I pulled Zabimaru back into rest again and shot him straight out but this time instead of just slashing to the side I spun and rushed to the right, Zabimaru stretching out beside and behind me. I stopped abruptly and watched him shoot in front of me and take out a nearby boulder. The boulder exploded. I cocked my head to the side and considered, it sort of looked a little more powerful but maybe it was just me, it still didn't answer the question as to whether it was going to solve the recoil limit either. I brought Zabimaru in then extended and swung, once, twice, then spiralled him around for the third (and usually final) swing, I could feel most of the power behind Zabimaru's movements drain to almost nothing as usual, but this time I rushed to the front, building up some momentum and then flash-stepped back. Zabimaru snapped forward and took out the target. I grinned.

:_Not bad_,: I thought, preening a little to myself. :_I wonder how long I can keep it going_.:

I experimented with flash-stepping to build up momentum but discovered that, instead of building momentum by movement, flash-step, even though I moved, didn't produce any pent-up energy. I was just suddenly in one place and then in another but my state was that of an object at rest. It was still pretty great for when I was already moving and wanted to stop suddenly, it had the same effect as that of a running dog reaching the end of his chain, Zabimaru shot forward with a sudden jerk and the end of his blade snapped the target into dust.

I brought him back in and mentally picked my targets, swung and spiraled three times, as usual, then rushed to one side and snapped back, hitting the first target, then rushed back in the opposite direction and pivoted into a spin on the right whipping Zabimaru to the side snapping the tip into my second target, the momentum wasn't as great as it was when I regularly recoiled and swung again, but it was working. As long as I kept moving, even though I stopped or changed directions suddenly, the energy built at the end of my blade and Zabimaru could keep hitting the targets with a decent amount of force. I whipped and dodged around the practice area, trying to keep in constant motion.

:_Looks like I'll have to work on my speed and agility then_,: I thought to myself after a little while.

I was winded and a little out of breath, sweat made my uniform cling to my skin and my lungs burned a bit. It had been a while since I'd done any sort of speed trials and I wasn't so much built for them. I was more of a power-fighter.

As a fighter I kept my body in excellent condition because I was going to be expected to be there on the battlefield, but my fighting style generally had me stationary for the most part, swinging Zabimaru from a stable base. All this dancing around and running full speed was a whole different kind of fight from what I was accustomed to. It looked like, if I wanted to master this new way of keeping Zabimaru in the field, I was going to have to train for speed.

:No problem,: I thought to myself. I enjoyed training anyways, physical activity was something I'd always been pretty good at. I'd just work on running. It wasn't as fun as fighting or running obstacle courses, but it had its own kind of savor to it too.

I whipped Zabimaru at one last target before I considered calling it a night and when it was destroyed a piece of rock went flying into a nearby tree, startling a bird out of it. My mind automatically seemed to make an intuitive leap, connecting the bird to my recent recoil-extension experiments and an idea occurred to me. While I was fighting I often had a move where I kept Zabimaru fully extended and coiled around me in a spiral to give him an extra bit of power when I sent him into attack a target, maybe I was being too linear though.

:_What if I attacked from the air_,: I wondered to myself.

I could sort of see how the idea was supposed to work in my mind, jump up and kip into an axle spin with Zabimaru gathering in a tighter spiral around me, then just shoot him out in the direction I wanted to attack from. It was easy enough to put a little spin on a leap, what if I used that spin to coil energy around me and replenish Zabimaru's flagging momentum?

:_Executing it in mid-air could be a bit of tricky business though_,: I thought consideringly.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. That was pretty much the motto with all of my long practice sessions I had done over the years with Zabimaru. We were a team he and I, and as partners we should stretch ourselves to our fullest potential. We wouldn't get any stronger by resting on our laurels after all.

:_Let's give it a shot_!: I thought.

It was strange, even after all this time together my enthusiasm for developing a new technique for us to fight with hadn't dimmed a bit.

I extended Zabimaru and swung three times, getting rid of his native power, and then dashed forward, whirling him around my head and shot my body into the air. Kicking out with my leg I pulled my body into a controlled axis spin, Zabimaru curling backwards into a spiral around me from the tip of his tail, which I held in my hand. He gathered in close as I spun...

:_Too close_!: I thought in a mild panic, seeing one failing in my idea a little too late to stop it. I'd put too much spin in my leap and Zabimaru wrapped fully around me. We went ingloriously crashing into the ground, him wrapped in a tangle around my limbs as I fell pretty much on my ass. It was sort of a world-class fail on my part.

:_Ow_,: I grumbled a little as I pulled Zabimaru back into resting position. His fangs had bit into me on the way down and I sported a few good sized cuts.

:_That's how you know it's been a good practice_,: I reminded myself, having made that one of my mottoes early on. If I was gonna be a brute fighter I was going to have to resign myself to gettin' hurt. It wasn't a good training session unless someone was bleeding.

I wasn't about to wuss out over one or two little scrapes, especially when I was trying something new. A warrior didn't grow by giving up at the first obstacle. It had taken me a lot of trial and error to work out Zabimaru's omni-directional attack, and a lot of blood too, but when I finally did make it work for me it increased my versatility as a fighter quite a bit. So this is new recoil was definitely something I wanted in my arsenal.

"Roar, Zabimaru!" I commanded, perfectly ready to keep at it all night if I had to. Such was the way of the warrior.

I might have lost my sole reason for fighting and growing stronger but damned if I was going to let that deter me. I might not have a reason for fighting any more but I had the vague feeling, call it faith, that Zabimaru and I were going to get through this rough patch together and come out even stronger than before.

* * *

**I want to send a big thank-you to my loyal reveiwers AngelIre, KuraOkami13, War90, and Mavenia (who really needs the post the next chapter of But For The Spring so I can find out what happens next). It's your constant words of praise and curiousity that keep me editing and posting with such regularity... otherwise, I'd probably lose interest and become my usual lazy, procrastinator self and stop posting. So for all of you lurkers out there, you have them to thank for this and any ensuing chapters I post. **

**Oh! Almost forgot, as a teaser, in the next chapter you get to find out what my explanation for Renji's tattoos is. I'm so excited! I'll see you all Thursday.**

**~Nightheart.  
**


	8. Seventh Heaven

Captain Unohana walked right into my ward at Squad Four the next morning as Fifth Seat Hanatarou Yamada was just finishing up closing over the worst of my wounds from my nice little practice session the night before. Her face had a look that mixed exasperation and resignation. I was a familiar face at her clinic, and one she'd given many, many lectures to on the art of slowing down and taking it easy in practice. She should have figured out by now that I wasn't going to listen to her. You don't get stronger by taking it easy on yourself.

"What am I going to do with you Lieutenant?" she questioned me rhetorically.

"How 'bout signing me out as fit fer duty?" I suggested, with a grin.

"I should keep you here just to teach you some restraint," she replied with that pleasant-but-somehow-vaguely-menacing smile she did. I knew I wasn't the only guy who found it more than a little unnerving to be faced with such benevolence and still have the feeling of impending doom lurking beneath the surface.

"Ya can't keep a good dog down," I said, exactly as I usually did.

"Thanks Hanatarou," I added, noting that he was done completely with my left side and had started on my right.

"You look like you got into an argument with a lawnmower and lost," he said absently, smiling up at me.

Normally he wouldn't be so openly assertive against a guy my size, but the little shrimp _knew _me, and he also knew that if I knuckled my fist into his head Rukia'd wallop me a good one. He couldn't do anything about the way the guys in Eleventh could kick him around, but he knew he was free to be as mouthy with me as he wanted and I wouldn't do anything to him.

"Punk," I settled for, closing my eyes and enjoying the feeling of my wounds disappearing one by one.

Healings tended to drain the one being healed as much as the one doing the healing, except with me. Zabimaru seemed to feel that being able to get back on my feet after a healing was one of those instances where he could stand to release a seal or two long enough for me to regain my own energy. Somewhere on my body, out of sight of the Healers, one of my tattoos was slowly un-knoting and fading against my skin, unraveling and disappearing, to release some of that reiatsu my zanpaktou seemed to feel was necessary to keep penned in fer some reason.

When Zabimaru had first appeared to me in my sleep, way back in the academy days when they'd first issued me a sword, I remember that he'd sort of shook his head at me and sighed, saying something about me being a_ late bloomer_ and not having the focus or control to handle all that power that was growing inside me. It was the next morning when I'd been getting ready for the day that I had found the first of what was to be many tatoos, right there on my stomach. At first, before remembering my dream the night before, I'd sort of panicked a little, thinking there was something wrong with me, then I'd thought that maybe one of my dorm-mates had played a trick on me, inking my body while I was still asleep. I waited a couple of days and even though I was on my guard and there was no-way anyone was sneaking up on me, the tatoos continued to grow like some kind of weird mold all over me. The little knot-work circle around my navel expanded up and out to circle my waist and torso over the course of the next week. The fear that maybe something was wrong with me kept me from speaking about it to anyone. It was a little while later that my dreams with Zabimaru became clearer and I started _remembering _them. A year later, as the tatoos on my chest strted working thier ways down my arms, I made the mistake of teasing my Zanpaktou about whether those marks of his were just his way of marking his territory, much the same way we street kids had used scrawlings here and there to mark our own turf. The next day the first of the tattoos on my forehead appeared.

:_Yeah yeah, I hear ya laughin', get over it already_,: I grumbled to him as I felt the vague tickle in the back of my mind that was Zabimaru when he was amused over something.

Of course the tickle only increased as he laughed harder. He always had gotten a kick out of that one. The old bastard wouldn't take any of them off either, especially the ones on my forehead. That was one reason why I tended to cover them up with bandanas and head-scarfs. Even if everyone else thought that the tattoos were intentional on my part, I still found them a little embarrassing sometimes. Even if they did play into the rebel I-don't-care-what-anyone-thinks-of-me image I tried to project, the truth was that they were still _imposed _on me. Growing up my distinctive red hair had been the cause of more than a few fights for standing out, and now I had a bunch of tatoos on me that made me stand out even more. Even though I generally took pride in my distinctive markings, they were _still _distinctive. It was hard, sometimes, to be so noticeable.

:_Better that than being forgettable_, _I guess_,: I thought to myself.

"What was it this time, lieutenant?" she asked me, checking over the chart at the foot of the bed I was on. It took me a second to come out of my own thoughts and focus on what she was reffering to, oh... she wanted to know how I'd managed to slice myself up this time.

"Training," I replied succinctly. "Got a new move I'm workin' on."

"Don't you _ever _give it a rest?" she said, her tone mildly chiding. She already knew the answer tot hat one.

"Nope," I replied. "No rest fer the wicked, y'know."

"You're a Lieutenant now, so _try _to show some decorum," she replied, signing off on my release papers as her little henchman closed off the last of my wounds and the final bit of ache disappeared.

"Thanks doc," I said cheerfully, leaping to my feet and heading towards the door with a jaunty backwards two-fingered salute.

I heard her admonishment for me to be more careful next time sound into the empty room at my back as I launched myself down the hall and out into the day. I had training with the greenies this morning.

My noobs were all gathered in the training courtyard grouped together by association and by element. I set them through their paces as a warm up then had them pair off and run five-minute matches against each other. Losers did push-ups. An hour later I set them to practicing lunges and retreats, followed by sprints and shuttles, glide-step and timing each other on the course, then lastly, sprinting. It was an excellent way to work on their endurance and breathing. Mindful of what I had decided the night before, I joined them this time.

:_Not so many early drop-outs when I run with them_,: I noted absently after me and the bulk of the noobs had been running at a pretty good clip for some time.

It felt pretty good too, my muscles were nice and loose by this time so I could just enjoy the purely physical activity, the way my legs pounded into the solid turf beneath my feet, the steady in and out of my breath, the harder beat of my heart, my blood seeming to sing through my veins. The academy was good for teaching a Reaper what he needed to know in order to survive out in the field, but I'd noticed that there was nothing quite like excersizing together and training against each other to build up teamwork and a sense of comraderie. I guess until I showed up every Reaper had taken his cue from the Captain and they'd each done thier own thing; I was noticing more and more since I'd taken up the mantle of Vice-Captain that there was more cooperation between Reapers and that squad was working together a bit more. Maybe Captain Kuchiki would never lower himself to doing stuff like this, but that was what he had _me _for.

I'd generally noticed that Captains and Vice-Captains were a team, one supplying the skills that the other lacked. Kuchiki the Elder wasn't exactly a _people _person, but I was, so it was _my _job to handle the people aspect. Considering the fact that it was my goal to one day fight and be able to hand his ass back to him, a person might think that I held a personal grudge against Captain Kuchiki. Well, that person would be right and he'd be wrong; I held a grudge against him for taking Rukia out of my life and I wanted to beat his ass for that offense, but as far as being his Vice-Captain went, that grudge had no place in my filling out my duties to him as his subordinate to the very best of my abilities. And that was how it was, as far as I was concerned.

After cool-down, stretches, a shower and a change of uniform it was off to the main headquarters to attend the weekly meetings of the Vice Captains. It took place when the Captains met, in an ante-chamber off to one side. It was _supposed _to be a serious, dignified affair; sort of like a lesser captain's meeting. It wasn't, or at least, not anymore. Me, Kira and Momo had all known each other since the academy and didn't stand on ceremony around each other. Same went for Shuuhei Hisagi. Rangiku Matsumoto didn't stand on ceremony around anyone. Little Yachiru had the attention span of a gnat and she was just too _cute _to take seriously. The fat guy from Second only showed up for the food. Nemu, Nanao, Isane and the Head Captain's lieutenant I can never remember his name, but he looks sort of like a butler from one of those old movies, I keep half-expecting him to say 'you raaang?") were the only ones left trying to uphold the dignity of our august positions. And a fine job they were doing too. They were so dignified, the rest of us could kick back and gossip about our squads without having to worry about the position of Vice Captaincy going to wrack and ruin.

"I heard that Head Captain Yamamoto is tired of the squabbling in Thirteenth and is going to hand Captain Ukitake an ultimatum that he has to pick out a new lieutenant by the end of the summer," Rangiku said, wafting the air with her saucer of sake for emphasis.

"Old news," Momo scoffed. "He's been threatening that for years and Thirteenth seems to just keep putting it off."

"I heard that it's because he's waiting for Kuchiki's little sister to step up to the plate already," Kira said, elbowing me.

I glared at the two of them. I could tell they were needling me. Again. _As usual_.

"Wellll," Rangiku said, clearly joining in the fun. "She'll never make rank without some field experience. The trip to Hueco Mundo may or may not count since it wasn't an official Court-sanctioned assignment. She certainly seems to be spending time enough lately in the living world. I heard she's _shacked up_ with some mortal. Not that we all haven't had our _fun _from time to time, but staying there for months on end is really just indiscreet, wouldn't you say Renji?"

"Shaddap," I grunted, knocking back some sake. "Someone's gotta babysit the new kid, he's just one giant lightning rod fer all kindsa trouble."

Momo and Kira exchanged a look.

"Are you buying that?" Mmo asided to him, pitched so I could hear her just _fine_.

"Not a bit of it," Kira replied.

"Any word on whether or not they're gonna haul some other poor bastard in and make him Captain?" I said, very deliberately changing the subject.

It was after all, the topic that everyone was talking about, who they were going to get to fill those missing slots. People were more worried now than ever about having good leadership, what with a tripe betrayal having shaken everyones confidence in the august position of the Captaincy. There were _three _positions open, that was _three _squads without a real sense of leadership and cohesion, and without the sense that if thier squad got into desperate straights they had someone who could pull a victory out in one swing of his sword. That was another thing that Captains were known for... and depended on for.

"There's been some talk of someone taking poor Kira here off the lists for a trip up to the mountains to beat him up until he achieves Bankai," Momo teased, poking his cheek. He gave her a level look.

"I'm perfectly content as Third Squad's Lieutenant, Momo," he replied, refusing to rise to the bait. "I can wait until they assign a new captain to the squad."

"You're no fun," she mumbled, rolling her eyes at him. "Besides, what if they assign Ikkaku Madarame as your captain?"

"Nuthin' doin'," I said flatly. "I don't think he's gonna go. No offense Kira, but I think Third's just a little too uptight for him, Eleventh is more his style."

"Isn't that _yourself _you're describing?" Tetsuzaemon Iba cut in, helping himself to the sake jug.

We'd been in Eleventh together for a number of years, and while we hadn't been bosom companions, we'd gotten into a few drunken brawls together and that sort of made us mates. Like me, Iba knew that his chances for advancement in Eleventh only extended so far, and he'd moved out like I had when a spot opened up in Seventh Squad. He didn't comment much on how he got along with his Captain, if he did at all, but I knew he and Ikkaku-sempai still got together for fighting and drinking.

"I'm in Sixth ain't I?" I replied, as if that should settle the matter.

Kira and Momo both grinned at me like sharks scenting blood in the water. Plenty of fodder there for more teasing about my wish to get closer to Kuchiki's little sister.

"Don't start with me," I muttered.

"You people gossip like old women," Shuuhei Hisagi chided us even as he reached over and poured himself a drink.

"Hey!" Rangiku protested. "No drinking the sake unless you're joining in the gossip."

Shuuhei flopped onto a nearby cushion and said

"My squad's been trying their hardest to act like they aren't worried about their former Captain defecting to the dark side, but the truth is we're _all _a little on edge. Being out three captain's is a pretty big deal. You can't just pick some guy at random to fill the spot either, especially not _now_. He's got to have the qualifications that make a good captain, because, whether it's intentional or not, the squad tends to take on the tone of thier captain."

"Yeah, just look at Eleventh," Momo said, citing the age-old case in point.

I'd heard that Eleventh had once been full of uptight young men like Maki Ichinose but when Zaraki killed the previous Captain and took over the squad it had taken on a different tone. Most would say that Eleventh was now where Yama-sama dumped the dregs, but I saw something different about it (of course I was biased). Eleventh was a place where the only thing that was important was the strength you could bring to the fight, ground-pounders of Eleventh as a consequence were always fighting (usually with each other). There was a lot of upward-mobility among the Seated Officers in Eleventh... basically if you wanted a person's job, you fought him for it, and if you won you got it. A great system as far as I was concerned. Eleventh might be the squad that most people thought of as being full of rowdy, brawling thugs, but to me the system was one that encouraged a fighter to be the strongest fighter he could be.

"It's probably taking so long because candidates for the position aren't exactly thick upon the ground," said Kira. "A captain has to have a Bankai, with the notable exception of Captain Zaraki--"

"An' ol' steel-skin's his own Bankai," Tetsuzaemon snorted.

It was a well-known fact that Zaraki could take a hit and keep on comin'. Until Ichigo had showed up, no-one had been able to put a scratch on him. Most of the people in our gossip circle who knew of Zaraki nodded agreement with Iba's assessment.

"So now more than ever, even with the proliferation of open positions, they'll be looking at and testing their candidates carefully to search out any weaknesses that might spell difficulties down the line," Shuuhei concluded. "They'll look for qualities that are going to make a good Captain; not just raw power or ability, but leadership skills, intelligence--"

"Well that lets Renji off the hook!' Momo said.

I leaned back and instead of scowling, exaggeratedly wiped my brow as I said

"Whew! What a relief. An' here I thought I was gonna have to fake my own death or somethin' to get out of it. I even had my noble death scene all planned out, goin' down in a nice, bright blaze of glory. 'No no, dear friends you must go on without me...' or sumthin; like that."

Momo and Kira booed and hissed at my theatrics while Rangiku and Omaeda threw nuts from a nearby bowl at me for bad acting.

"Thank-you, Thank-you I do birthdays and weddings too," I said, grinning from under a shower of food and a chorus of boos.

The Lieutenants from First, Fourth, Eighth and Twelfth looked on at our antics with matching expressions that said louder than words 'so this is what we have at last sunk to.'

"Waaai!" Yachiru cheered, hopping onto my back as I bent forward into a bow.

"Hey, ya little demon," I said straightening and letting her clamor onto my shoulders.

All the guys at Eleventh might act tough, but damned if we didn't all spoil the little brat when we thought no-one was looking. I kinda had a soft-spot for kids anyway, most people would say that it was because we shared the same maturity level. I tried to act like I wouldn't spoil 'em if given half a chance though, it'd completely ruin my tough-guy image.

"Ne Renji," she said, putting her hands over my eyes so I couldn't see.

"Watcha want brat?" I asked, smiling a little in spite of my resolve to look tough. Even Captain Zaraki couldn't manage to look completely intimidating with the cuteness that was Lieutenant Yachiru hanging off his shoulder.

"When ya gonna come back over an' play fer me?" she demanded, tugging my tail to emphasize her point.

"I'm kinda busy bein' a Lieutenant right now kiddo," I said. "My captain ain't nice like yours, and he makes me do all the paperwork instead of shoving it onto Ikkaku. How about this, the next time I'm injured and laid up in Fourth, you come on down an' see me, an' bring my axe, an' I'll play as much as you want me to. How's that?"

There was a long pause while she considered the deal I offered, then in typical Yachiru fashion she said

"Okaaaay!" and hopped off to go drink some juice.

The other Lieutenants, including the serious corner, all stared at me.

"What?" I grumbled, my face flushing a little as I straightened my shoulders and crossed my arms over my chest, trying to look tough, like I _hadn't_ just been bouncing a little girl on my shoulders and basically promising to give her whatever she wanted.

"Training for your hopes of future fatherhood?" Rangiku teased.

"Shaddap."

& & &

After the meeting I was due to oversee the group training in Element Three, under Kimiri Rokku. A decent bunch of mixed fighters in that element; two Kido specialists, one specialized in attack-spells and the other usually managed healing spells and weaker attacks, a tank, an all-around, a ranged fighter (rather, her sword, enabled her to attack from a larger distance) and three lightweight fighters. A good and balanced mix and I commended the Sixth Seat on her skills at picking out a good team with complementary skills.

I had them practicing against fake Hollows, they were Constructs run by kido that Twefth had developed for training purposes. They generally weren't as difficult as the real thing but they were enough to give a group a good work out. Rokku called out the commands for her fighters to switch in in teams of three against the Hollow, mixing their skills and different styles of combat against the various moves that a Hollow might make.

First she'd call in her tank, a lightweight and a Kido and have them attack, then she'd switch out the kido for the healer to revive the two blunt-force fighters before switching out both the tank and the healer for another lightweight and the ranged fighter getting them to work together before switching the tank back in in place of the kido and the all-around for the lightweight for a battle. I was both pleased and impressed, it seems that the tips I'd given them about teamwork and mutual benefit had done some good. There had been significant improvements in both thier fighting skills as individuals and thier ability to switch in and out of formation without getting in each others way.

"Good work guys!" their element leader called out when I signalled they were done. "Hit the baths, you all need it."

"Awww, cheif!" the all-around said, a lightly teasing grin on his face. "An' here we thought you liked us!"

"I like you fine when I can't smell you from across the practice yard," she replied with a small smile.

I was also pleased to note that their morale was up significantly from where it had been when I had started their training regimen.

"Your element looks like it could beat the crap out of an Espada," I said sincerely to Kimiri Rokku as we heaved the deflated Hollow back into its box. Byakuya Kuchiki would probably say something like "excellent progress and significant improvement" but that wasn't really my style, I measured success by how strong an opponent I judged they could take on and come out alive. The Espada thing had been my way of complimenting Rokku on a job well done.

"I owe it all to you, Lieutenant," she replied. "You're the one who came up with these training drills for us, without it I would probably have just sent them on their merry way without trying to work with them to hone their skills. That's how it's run in Seventh anyway."

_Most _squads were like that, they didn't even bother dividing into elements, the Captains just handed down their orders through the Seated officers and let the peons work out who did what between them, but I had this odd idea that people who were under me should have the best chance of survival that I could give them. I wasn't turning all soft and mushy or nuthin' (even though I had gotten the Element idea from Fourth Squad) but it was a fact that with so much up in the air we couldn't afford to waste our talent on stupidity. When I took up the Vice-Captaincy it came with an obligation to the people under me, just the same way that being a small gang-leader in the Rukongai made me responsible to see that nobody got left behind on a raid.

About a week into taking up my new Vice-Captaincy I noted that the Squad, run the same way most squads were at that time, had a disproportionate number of young men and women who seemed to think that now that they were out of the Academy that meant they could slack off and not hone their skills properly. It had also had a large number of young men and women who spent their energy in petty squabbles and stupid vendettas, mostly lower-ranked members but some Seated Officers too; as long as word of it didn't reach their Captain they were free to do as the pleased. Because of this there was no sense of fellow-feeling and no cohesion except that they were all under Captain Kuchiki. That lack of esprit de corps probably contributed to the death-toll on regular missions. It had made no sense to me that those guys should have been dying fighting regular Hollows. Menos grande's I could understand, but these were weak specimens of their kind.

I had known right away that they needed training, not just all around physical conditioning but structured training regimens too. To do that, I figured it would be easier of I could have them fight in groups of mixed combat specialists so they could get accustomed to working with all different types of fighting styles. That was what had led me to adapting the basic structure from fourth, where different smaller groups of healers were assembled into groups under thier Seated Officers. So I divided them into what I decided to call elements under the Seated Officers, assessed thier skills and weak points, and drew up training regimens for each element. It didn't make me terribly popular at first, but after the aches and pains of that first week faded, they could see that I had their interests at heart and they'd eventually cooled off. When I had one element fight another they began to see the advantages. It wasn't long before they started to really _like _it. I was finding that this system was working well for me, and for them... even that stuffed-shirt Kuchiki seemed to approve of it!

:_This ain't time to feel smug, you've got another group to train with_,: I told myself.

"Next up, Seventh Element!" I called to the soldiers and thier seated officer waiting in the wings.

By the end of the training session I had spotted several places where they could stand to improve themselves. The kido specialist was a little slow, so he should work on his time, plus the tank had a tendency to leave his flank open. Ensil's (the Seventh Seat in charge of the squad) own attacks could use some work as well, his swing was slightly wide and to the left and his endurance could use some work. Ensil's two tanks tended to be stationed too often together, and while they worked great with each other, they didn't seem to be able to blend their skills with another style of teammate. I called them individually to face off against me in order to demonstrate the areas in combat where they could make improvements. Then we ran through another set of drills and I coached them through switching out on command and listening to their element leader. I'd picked Ensil because he had the right kind of tactic expertise to pick the right set of skills to fight against a Hollow and win.

:_Sometime's this Lieutenant thing ain't so bad_,: I thought as I sent them off to hit the baths and eat.

The rest of the afternoon and early evening had been spent in training; good, clean physical activity. It sure beat being trapped behind a desk like some paper-shufflin' bureaucrat! The element exercises were my kinda thing; sparring, working with my Reapers, I got to get out and meet people. For all that I was something of a solitary warrior in my fighting style, I was really a people person, I _liked _being surrounded by people. I _liked _the interaction. It certainly made up for my Captain's aloofness with his troops. I often wondered how he ran this Squad before I got here if he never spoke to any of them. Maybe my predecesor had been a people person too.

I grabbed my own bath in the quieter, more private, officers baths. Rank had it's privileges, even if the soap that the cleaning crew kept giving me did smell kinda strange and spicy, it was manly enough not to have me smellin' like a buncha flowers so I guessed I'd let it pass. I grabbed a tray of food for dinner and took it up to my office in my Lieutenants quarters, lit the candle on my desk and started on my daily forest of paperwork. Such was the _glorious _life of a Lieutenant.

I left my door cracked open as a signal that I was free in case someone needed to talk, it was a practice of mine, another way I handled my duties as Kuchiki's Lieutenant. Ancestors knew they couldn't take any problems they might be having to the Kuchiki, he'd probably just raise that aristocratic eyebrow of his and stare at them coldly like he was wondering why they would come whining to him if they had a problem. I might not look like the 'wisdom and counsel' type (as a matter of fact, I wasn't) but I knew that sometimes it helped just to be able to talk about what was going on. Sometimes my Reapers needed only an ear to listen to them, sometimes they needed someone to beat them with the common sense stick. I was there to do both.

I was about halfway through updating my report and adding notes on the Soul Roll when a light tap sounded against my door frame.

"This ain't the toilet, th' door's open!" I grunted, kinda glad to set the paperwork aside.

"Lieutenant Abarai," a somewhat timid voice said as she pushed the door to one side. I nodded her in and she entered, moving to slide the door shut behind her.

"Leave it open," I told her. "I like the air."

The _real _reason was so no-one started any rumors about any funny business going on between me and my impressionable young female Reapers. I had enough headaches without adding _that _one to the pile.

"I hope I'm not disturbing you," she said as a preamble. I recognized the little Reaper, kinda new to the business, just assigned to Sixteenth element. I think that I'd just assigned her to her first mission in the Mortal Realm.

Sure enough, that was what the meeting was about. She was a little nervous and feeling insecure about being sent out by herself. I didn't tell her not to worry, she _should _be worried. I told her to keep that fear and use it, but don't let it overcome her. A little fear would keep her senses sharp. It was when the fighting became routine that a Reaper started missing things, and that could spell disaster. She confided that she was nervous about running into a powerful Hollow so I told her that the area I'd assigned her to was going cold, and the incidence was unlikley but that was no reason to let her guard down. She was to trust in her training and to do her best but to call in for back-up if there was a complication. Just standard newbie advice. She seemed to feel better, calmer, after hearing it and left the room with a spine that was a little straighter. I went back to my damned paperwork.

:_Ah, the glories of being a Vice-Captain_,: I sighed internally over my desk. What the hell had I been _thinking_, training to be a Lieutenant?!

I ran my thoughts back over the day and realized that, in the routine, I'd completely forgotten to investigate that Shadow mystery.

:_I'll have time to do it tomorrow_,: I thought to myself.

There was no lieutenants meeting and one of the elements I had had sceduled to train had been called out as back-up for another squad in a hot site. After my paperwork was done, I'd go out for another training session with Zabimaru before a final shower and then bed.


	9. Losing Your Eighth

Morning Training with my noobs who were not assigned to an element yet went pretty much the same way it always went; a good sweaty run and one or two minor injuries from sparring. I was beginning to think they might just assign a Healer over here on a permanent basis to keep from having my squad members trickle in in ones and twos each day. After the bath that followed post-morning-training and breakfast, I hopped over to the Captain's office to see if he had errands to run that required the presence of his wingman.

It turned out that Kuchiki was going to spend the day with his sister, who was in from the field for a little while. I told him to pass on my regards, and to tell her that she could drop by if she wanted. He nodded distantly and I doubted she'd get the message. I often got the feeling that dear Elder Brother didn't like that I was a _consistent _presence in her life. Well, not so constant, but our relationship _was _improving, going back to that old familiarity we'd always had. I firmly quashed the feelings of sorrow at the fact that I was relegated to "friend" in her eyes that tried to rise up and told the Captain I was going to try looking into that thing I'd told him about the day before. His nod was more like a 'do what you want, I don't care' kind of nod, but he dismissed me and I was free to go.

I dropped by my quarters and grabbed the Silvertip tea for Ukitake and the little music playing device for Nemu. If one avenue didn't pan out I could skip right to the next. I hopped over to the Thirteenth Squad Hall and knocked politely on The Squabblers door, to find them squabbling as usual over who was going to give the captain his medicine that day.

"Hey brats, is Captain Ukitake free?" I asked politely.

They stopped mid-argument and glared over at me.

"He's resting!" girl-squabbler, I think her name was Kotetsu, snapped at me. I refrained from bonking her on the head for it. One, she was a girl, and two, I was there to ask a favor so I should play nice.

"He can't be disturbed," boy-squabbler Kotsubaki maintained. I rolled my eyes at their theatrics. He was usually out in the tea pavilion at this time anyway. I could find him myself.

:_I don't know why I bother_,: I thought.

"Thanks for your help," I said instead, turning toward the door.

I looked around HQ and sure enough, there he was out under the tea pavilion by the lake with his tea-things doing tea-brewing stuff.

"Good afternoon Captain," I called in a friendly manner.

I casually held the tea tin in my open palm in front of me. Ukitake turned and looked over at me, a smile of welcome on his face.

"Ah, Vice-Captain Abarai," he said, his voice genial as always. "What a pleasant surprise. You come bearing gifts I see. And here I had thought that I had seen the last of you when my young squad member returned safely to the Seireitei."

I ducked my head a little at the allusion to my not visiting him as consistently as I had back when Rukia had taken her first mission out in the field. I'd come by every day to choke down on tea that I hated, ostensibly for a friendly visit, but in reality I was _desperate _for word of Rukia.

"Sorry for not coming by," I said, setting the gift nearby in tacit offering. "I've been a little busy."

"So I've heard. How was Hueco Mundo?"

Was it my imagination or was that a note of teasing I heard in his voice?

"Sandy," I replied succinctly. "And dark."

I sat down properly beside him, my legs had at last grown accustomed to seiza and no longer went numb after ten minutes. Now it took twenty at least. He smiled again and poured me a cup of the tea he had brewing and gestured that I should expand on my answer.

"The sun never rises there unless yer inside," I said. "Strange place. The ground is all hollow underneath and the menos all live underground in a weird forest. The hallways of the citadel itself 'r all stark white an' really even an' regular. The place is a maze, every bit as much as the Seireitei is, except this has levels to it too. It was a pain in the butt to try to get around."

"My own subordinate said much the same to me," Ukitake noted.

"Probably better," I said dryly, and tried to hide my reluctance to drink as I politely brought the tea to my lips to sip it.

"No worse certainly," he agreed with me. "So what brings you here?"

"Can't I just have come for a friendly visit?" I said affecting offended innocence.

He gave me a shrewd look and waited. I quickly caved.

"It's like this," I said. "You're a scholar and have been around the Seireitei for a long time, an' even though I'm a Lieutenant, I'm still pretty young, so you've probably seen a lotta things I haven't."

"The reverse is also true," he said gently. "I have never been to Hueco Mundo."

"I just went there to help Rukia an' the brat rescue their friend," I brushed it off.

I didn't see how I'd done anything so spectacular. Okay, so _maybe _I'd been planning on going there to bring the poor little girl back to her family anyway, but since carrot-top beat me to it, it didn't count.

:_Story o' my life lately_.:

"Anyway, I came across somethin' innerrestin' the other day an' I was hoping you might know a little bit more about it."

"Go on," he prompted, mildly interested look in his face.

"I was out in the Rukon District yesterday lookin' inta why the heck ain't no-one on the streets at night. 'Snot normal behavior for that neck o' town, y'see. I tailed a covey back to 'is roost because he said one of his mates had seen the thing I was picking up on. I got a good whiff of _bad _juju."

Ukitake looked over at me, his eyebrows raised in question.

"That's street slang for spirit energy, but it's broader than that, sometimes it means kido, sometimes it means superstitious stuff or it can also mean just plain bad luck or that you think someone's making yer luck bad by using magic."

Ukitake nodded comprehension.

"Anyway this trace of spirit energy that got left behind when the kid got... _disappeared_ was like nothing I've ever smelled before."

"Wait, people are going missing?" Ukitake questioned.

"They think so. If they're not just being murdered as usual, and it's not fer certain they ain't, there's somethin' out there that can cross the Line undetected and is targeting people with strong spirit energy."

Ukitake studied me silently for a very long moment.

"And what do you make of this Lieutenant?" he asked me quietly.

I scratched my head and thought about it.

"I don't 'xactly know what's _what _yet," I said. "That's why I'm askin' around. I trust my nose and I know what I sensed, so all I need to know now it whether or not anyone's heard of something that c'n move through walls undetected, and smells like incense."

"Incense?" Ukitake questioned me. "That's not a lot to go on lieutenant, and most entries in the archives don't list what a creature smells like unless it's very distinctive."

"It's definitely not human," I added helpfully. "And it ain't Soul Reaper either."

He stared at me after I said this.

"You're sure?" he said after another long silence.

"Yeah," I said. "Human spirits and Soul Reaper Spirits have a distinct sort of scent underneath all the individual differences that mark one soul from the next, somethin' that ties 'em, even in the case of Soul Reapers, to the Human World and to each other. It's like a unified scent, sort of. This new gremlin o' mine didn't have a single speck of that under-scent."

"Hmmm, that is quite the mystery," Ukitake said consideringly. "Something that is spirit, but not human or Soul Reaper huh?"

He paused and thought for a long time, I pretended to drink my tea and waited. Ukitake sipped elegantly at his own, eyes focused inward, lost in thought, then after a while he brightened.

"There are and have been entities in the world that have spirit powers but are _not _human," he said at last, eyes brightening with scholarly interest. "There has always been a great deal of scholarly debate about whether or not they predated the appearance of the human soul in the world, or whether they appeared after the Humans came to map themselves upon the world and the Soul Society was created, and were simply _appropriated _by human's into their own belief systems."

I wasn't interested in scholarly debate, I'd leave that up to the scholars. I did have more sense than to say so out loud, especially when Ukitake was doing me a favor.

"_Generally _it has been agreed that they derive their power from the human spirit, some even say that they were simply "believed" into existence. They are, or rather, they _were _beings of great spiritual power. It is said that they once had a prescence in the human world, but their existence there has long since faded to myth over the long centuries."

"And they are?" I asked, trying not to sound impatient.

"They're simply called The Believed," Ukitake said. "It is said that they have their own Realms in the Dangai, but so far as I know, no-one has ever been to one, so rumors of their Realms remain unconfirmed. Or if they have been to one, the records of their journey hasn't made it into the archives."

"The Believed, huh?" I muttered to myself.

I made some more pleasant small talk, he commended me on my new element innovation in my own squad and that morale in Sixth seemed to be up by a great deal. He also lamented that so many of his own Reapers were out in the field, and hinted that Rukia would probably be stationed in Harakura for quite some time. After a while he politely excused himself, and I bowed and took my own exit, off in search of someone who might have heard anything more about the Believed.

:_Well, the best place to go when looking for information is someone who spends all of her time compiling information_,: I thought to myself, already heading off toward Twelfth Squad.

I'd _really _been hoping to avoid running into Twelfth Squad's creepy Captain Kurotsuchi. The guy gave me (and most people) the screaming heebie-jeebies. Every time I was around him I always got the feeling of being a bug under a bell-jar, that the moment I did something interesting he was going to haul me off to his lab and start experimenting on me. With his weird clothes, evil scientist cackle, odd face paint and general aura of inhumanity, the guy was plain _creepy _and that's all there was to it.

It was just my luck that I'd walk right into Twelfth Squad courtyard and he'd be the first person I'd see. Of course, he was actually with his daughter so it wasn't a total loss. He was scolding her, however, in his usual manner... via the back of his hand. I wasn't some chivalrous idiot and I was generally of the opinion that most women could take care of themselves perfectly well without my help (having grown up with Rukia would do that to a guy, I guessed) but something about the casual way that Mayuri Kurotsuchi smacked her around really put my hackles up. I wasn't really putting any thought into it when I flashed across the courtyard and wrapped my hand around his wrist as he pulled his arm back for another admonition about her stupidity.

It was somewhat satisfying to see the look of consternation on his face as he moved to smack her and found himself restrained. He whirled around with a look of fury on his face to see who would dare interfere with his discipline session only to have to look up (it was _very _satisfying to be so much taller than he was) at a guy who was bigger than him.

"What is it Lieutenant?" he snarled with ill grace when I squeezed his wrist slightly before letting it go.

He stressed my rank I noted, probably some way of asserting some nebulous authority or somethin'. I only took orders from _one _guy, and it wasn't this tooth-lipped little twerp.

"Good afternoon Captain," I said, smiling that overly bright smile I used when I wanted to cover up that my feelings were the opposite of friendly.

"Sorry to innerupt yer daily abuse o' yer daughter, but I need to borrow her."

I really hoped he could catch the sarcasm under my pleasant tone. That lemon-faced look he gave me told he he heard it satisfyingly loud and clear.

"Won't be but a minute," I assured him as I snagged the poor hapless Nemu by the elbow and hussled her off.

She tried to make a weak protest but I got her out of earshot before she could do much more.

"Hey Nemu," I said with a smile, feeling a little bit like a doting older brother as I reached into my over-shirt pocket and pulled out the tiny music player I'd won in some kind of lottery-prize thing.

The Quincy had loaded it with music from his computer in exchange for an hour's practice bout with me when I told him I wanted to use it as a bribe eventually. I think he mostly put wussy classical stuff on it. He _would_.

It was kinda cute the way her eyes locked on it. Normally she had this sweetly _bland _aura about her, like she had no thoughts or will outside of what her "Mayuri-sama" told her she could have. Personally, I kinda liked it when she grew herself a little spine; women were _supposed _to have spine, it made 'em innerestin'.

"I got a favor ta ask ya."

"What's the favor?" she asked me sweetly, eyes never leaving the prize I held out to her.

"I need you to fish through that system o' yers in Twelfth and find me anything you can about a race or a people or beings that are called The Believed."

"Mayuri-sama doesn't allow personal projects on his system," Nemu replied, still looking at the player.

"So just don't _tell _him about it. What he doesn't know won't hurt, besides, it's not _personal _exactly, you could just say, if he asks about it, that you heard a rumor about there being something _out there_ in the Outer and you wanted to know if it was true or not."

"I haven't heard any rumor--"

"Which is why I'm tellin' ya _now_," I finished for her smoothly.

I waggled the device before her and her eyes followed it.

"Whaddaya say?"

"I-I guess, if I'm investigating something that might have an impact on the Seireitei--" she said, reluctantly letting herself be persuaded.

"Furthermore," I said, seized by a sudden inspiration. "Aizen got away, though he doesn't have the Hougyoku anymore, but no-body knows where he got to. Most people assume he's hidin' in the Mortal Realm, but you could just be checking all the possibilities, just to be certain."

:_Come to think of it, that's not actually a bad notion_,; I thought, proud of myself. :_There might even be somethin' to it too. Everyone assumes he's hidin' out in the mortal realm, but he's not the type to do whatever people expect him to do. Maybe these Shadows_...:

"Mayuri-sama always tells us to try to isolate _all _of the variables before we come to a conclusion," Nemu agreed.

"An' if you should happen to discuss one or two pertinent variables with a fellow Lieutenant, who's ta say anything about it?"

I handed the player over to her as a silent way of sealing our deal. She took it.

"I will be resting from my research project on the park bench outside of Sixth at moonrise," she replied solemnly.

"Moonrise it is, then," I grinned at her and took myself off while she headed back to her father's lair.

* * *

**I just filed my taxes yesterday and that means I should be getting my PS3 money so I can get Final Fantasy 13 (I want it, I want it soooo baaaaaaad!!) After which you all may never see me again as I will have been sucked into the Final Fantasy void so eat up the regular posts while you can. ^_^ **

**In the next chapter of Chasing Shadows we get the premeire debut of Baboon King Zabimaru, and what's this, he's offering a deal to Renji? He want's Renji to work on getting rid of those seals on his body? What new challenges await him when he undertakes this training? Find out next time on Chasing Shadows: Ninth Gate  
**


	10. Ninth Gate

I had a couple more hours to kill before moonrise and I didn't feel like doing paperwork. Practice with Zabimaru I usually reserved for the darker hours of the night when all my Reapers would be either out on patrol or tucked away in their beds, so that no-one would catch sight of my ignominious fails as I worked out my technique through old fashioned trial and error.

:_I should work on those other things I said I was going to_,: I thought reluctantly.

I wasn't in the habit of breaking promises, even (perhaps especially) ones I made to myself. If I had decided that I should do something in order to become a sharper sword, it did no good to put off honing my edge, I'd just start collecting more rust.

_:So, which first, Kido or Startegy_?: I asked myself, facetiously.

Neither one of them appealed to me of course, but both of them would hone my edge so there was no better time to get started.

:_Either way, it looks like I'm gonna be hanging around the stacks_,: I thought wryly to myself.

I just wasn't much of a book-learner, not the least because reading had never really much appealed to me.

:_Keh, I do enough readin' when I'm keepin' up with the paperwork_,: I grumbled to myself.

If I looked at it another way, then that just meant I'd gotten lots of practice lately.

:_So, eeney meeney miney mo.._: I thought as I dragged myself reluctantly off to the Soul Society library.

The building was massive, three wings that stretched out the size of a city block with three stories each (and sub-levels under the ground that were restricted access) with an enormous dome in the center of it that led to each wing. It was staffed by a small army of librarians, assistants and chroniclers. I heard that all those log summaries I wrote made its way onto a shelf here after my captain was done with it. Maybe that was one reason why he was constantly getting onto my case about my atrocious handwriting. He couldn't _order _me into calligraphy lessons, so he could just suffer.

Strategy books often had some nifty accounts of old battles, they weren't always dry and dull, but Kido was actually useful in battle, so I was probably going to study that one first. Besides, it was time I started working on getting these tatoos of mine off my body finally. It was time I stopped relying on Zabimaru to keep my Reitasu in line, and shifted for myself.

I well remembered my academy days, even in the advance classes I had a hard time with the Kido. The spells were all complex and relied on some weird ancient gobbledygook about Chakram and Meridians and reishin and spirit energy that made only a dim kind of sense to me. I could _sort of_ make the incantations work for me, but it was chancy. If I wanted to fire off an attack it was just as likely to backfire on _me _as it was to hit what I was aiming for. In class they'd started calling me "Ol' Charcoal"... well they did at least until I caught enough of them after class to make my objections known.

I had used to study it with Rukia and she'd used to explain the weird stuff in a way that kinda made sense to me. I missed those days still.

"Wonder if I c'n get 'er to help me out again." I wondered to myself.

She'd probably just tease me about having made lieutenant without knowing the basics about Kido though. Granted, she was partly _right, _but maybe going all the way back to the basics wasn't such a bad idea. I was clearly lacking the groundwork--

::**_And the control and self-discipline_**,:: Zabimaru added in a little cuttingly.

:Yer being awful chatty lately, what gives?:

::**_Has it not occured to you that, even with the aid of the binding-marks I've placed on you, that I might perhaps be weary of restraining the wellspring of your Reiatsu, Renji_**?:: Zabimaru asked me, irony in his voice.

So in other words, hurry up about it. Still it occured to me...

:_If yer so keyed up about me gaining control of my own spiritual powers lately why wait until this late in the game? Why not have put me up to it earlier like when i was tryin' ta rescue Rukia_?:

::**_I had only just gotten the resolve out of you to do whatever it took to master Bankai_**,:: Zabimaru answered with dignity. ::**_And even after you had finally managed to master the Snaketail, once you had that woman at your side you weren't interested in concentrating on anything else._**::

I suppressed an automatic feeling of insult at his words. He made me sound like some kind of wimp that spent all his time mooning about on hilltops sighing over his lady fair like some sap from out of a Courtly Love Balad rather than the warrior who spent all of his time in training to get stronger that I had been for the last forty years!

::**_And once you left to fight beside her against the Espada in Hueco Mundo there was no time for study or further refinement on your technique_**,:: Zabimaru finished.

:_So what, you were jus' waitin' fer a breather so you could get me ta study Kido now_?:

::**_You have acknowledged to yourself that our blade is weak. You lack mastery over the skills of Kido and of the Art of War. Are you telling me now that you are willing to accept these weaknesses instead of honing our edge_**?::

I mulled that one over. My pride as a warrior automatically answered 'hell no!' but I was also realistic, I knew myself well enough to know that when it came to learning things from out of a book I had a serious block there. Put me on a training feild and I could manage just fine, that was just how I worked, but set me behind a desk and I was not in my element.

:_Ya got a point_,: I aknowledged to him.

I usually tended to discount how important a good Kido attack could be in turning the tides of a battle.

:_Heck I seen it fer mysel_f,: I admitted.

When I was supervising the battles between the different elements, tanks were good for knocking a Hollow on its ass and a couple of good Kido specialists could hold one at bay and herd it this way and that, but the fighters that were of real value were the all-arounds; the ones who knew a little of each because they weren't limited to just one manner of attack or defense.

I was a Lieutenant wasn't I? I should _already_ be good at this stuff, the fact that I had made it this far and my Kido attacks still sucked because I used them as little as possible was _not_ a credit to me. A _real _warrior would want to be able to know and use every advantage he could lay his hands on. The fact that I hadn't was due to sheer stubborn perversity on my part.

::**_Your pure stubborn hard-headedness is often what makes you pull through when any other warrior would give up and try something else. It is what also enables you to persevere when most would give in, you find your greater strength the greater the adversity you face and you win through simply to prove that you can, but don't turn that strength into a weakness. Don't let your pride in your sword turn against you by making you unwilling to try new things.:_**:

I paused to actually reflect on what the ape was saying to me, sitting down under a nearby tree and thinking about it. Zabimaru retreated back to his little nest inside my soul to let me work it out on my own like usual. I was being stupid and in the process, stabbing myself in the foot. I was a stubborn guy, it was the sole virtue that had made it possible for me to make lieutenant in such a (relatively) short amount of time, but that stubborness had the tendency to make me cling to my strengths.

:_Face it Renji_,: I said, not willing to allow myself to wimp out. :_Yer afraid_.:

After all, with everything I'd gained, I'd already lost the _one _thing I wanted win, which sort of made the rest of it feel not really worth it. In short, I no longer had anything left to loose by being brutally honest with myself... maybe it was some kind of flaw in _me _that had made me fall short. If this was true then the reason I was not with her was because something in me wasn't good enough. If this was the case, then, just as being second-best in any trial I'd faced was not acceptable; a weakness in my abilities was no longer acceptable either.

So what was I afraid of? Well that one was simple, the only thing I could think of that I was ever afraid of. Failure, the fear of falling short, of not being enough. I'd suffered the ignominy of defeat and this exact thing in the past year more than I ever had before; that brat, in a matter of months, easily surpassed all I had worked for in the course of decades. It was both maddening and discouraging. The worst thing was that I couldn't really dislike the guy and even found myself in the extremely annoying position of having to be grteful to him for saving her life. A bigger man than me would have said 'as long as her life was saved what does it matter how it's done" and I tried to see it that way, but the plain truth was that I just didn't, couldn't. I had wanted to be the one to save her. I wanted to be the one to help her, to be by her side. Why the hell does he, who isn't even an actual Reaper, who doesn't have any rank, who hasn't lived for decades around her, why does he get to fight beside her with his head up? I'd worked so hard and yet in the end, I just wasn't good enough. I'd failed and it still felt like the worst of all possible things. Everything I feared had come to be.

So what could I do about it? I couldn't just stop being afraid, a small amount of fear kept one cautious and alive in battle (though I had never been known for my caution in battle), it was a survival mechanism.

::**_Stop letting it control you_**,:: Zabimaru hinted. ::**_Relax_**.::

I'd been accused of being so laid back that I was positively slothful, mostly by my Captain, Byakuya Kuchiki... who was the living embodiment of the iron-clad work ethic. So my soul-sword's advice didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I should probably try wrapping my mind around it a bit more before I just dismissed it. Thinking things through wasn't exactly my strong point either, but it was a nice afternoon and I was resting under a tree but I wasn't feeling sleepy enough to nap for a change, besides, this kind of thing was important. I pulled myself into a sitting position and turned my gaze inward, shutting out the world around me so I could concentrate. It wasn't anything so high-brow as meditation or anything like that, I was just trying to shut out all the distractions so i could work my way through a chain of thought. What did Zabimaru mean when he had said I was letting fear control me?

For as long as I'd been chasing my goal of rising high enough in the ranks to be able to stand next to Rukia with my head held up, there had also been this strange feeling like something was both chasing behind me nipping at my heels, and chained to me, dragging me down. I wasn't sure what it was or what I was supposed to do with it so I just ignored it. Maybe it wasn't something I should be ignoring.

I'd heard somewhere that fear could be a goad, to push a guy inta action, but I also knew that sometimes fear could make a guy freeze up and resist taking action when action needed to be taken. So then, was whatever the hell it was that's been chasing after me an' makin' afraid to turn around doing either of those two things? Well the first thing I already knew the answer to. I used my fear of failure to hone my edge so that I just simply wouldn't fail. Usually the only answer i had to what happened if I did fail was to just push myself harder. That didn't seem like a bad thing to me. it made me a stronger fighter.

::**_You will never be a truly strong fighter with only fear and desperation to hone your edge_**,:: Zabimaru replied.

:_I just gotta be stronger_!: I snapped.

::**_Is that your only reason for fighting? You just want to be stronger? Don't make me laugh _**_Lieutenant Renji Abarai_**_._**::

And with that from my sword, my whole world abruptly tilted on its side, sort of. Before that moment, all I'd been doing there was sitting under a tree, examining the lids of my eyes while I thought through whatever it was Zabimaru seemed to have a problem with me about. Now I seemed to be on my feet somewhere else entirely.

Looking at it, it was really strange to see. I was surrounded on all sides by dense, lush greenery sewn all together by vines with strange lookin' fruits and flowers on it. I was standing on an enormous wooden log that three of me linked hand to hand could not had reached all the way around. One side the massive log was anchored into what looked like a side-wall covered in grass with some kind of strange fountain running over it. The water was flowing upwards (which looked really weird) into a series of seven stone rock-basins that were clogged with all sorts of mulch and dead stuff so that instead of the water flowing easily into the bowls, it trickled in little rivulets. On the other side of the log, the log branched off into many large limbs, and hanging in one of those limbs was a massive white baboon with a snake peeking over his shoulder who eyed me with meditative stillness.

"Huh?" I asked intelligently. I'd never seen this place before, where was there a jungle in the Seireitei?

"Glad you could make it, finally," the smaller, tinier voice of the Snaketail greeted me. The Baboon King looked at me silently, his expression unreadable.

"Where am I?" I asked. "Last I knew I was sittin' under a tree an' thinkin' about how I was supposed to get over this Kido hang-up. Now suddenly I'm standin' in th' middle o' th' jungle with you."

"We've manifested ourselves in _your _world for Bankai, but it's definitely time that you came to visit ours, or rather your _own _innerscape," the Snaketail replied.

"I have a jungle in me?" I said, non-plussed. A guy would think he'd have noticed something like that.

"Everyone's is different," the snake said. "Anyway, you've finally gotten around to addressing some of your weaknesses, the one's you usually ignore. Growing stronger as a fighter is the path that's easier and we've come far by walking down it until now, but since we've gone about as far as that path alone can take us, we're going to master the other ways to hone our strength."

"Ya mean we're learnin' that Kido shit," I said, getting to the point. "What's all _this _about then?"

"Normally the best way to learn Kido is to just read the ancient texts, but unfortunately you're not all that great at the book-learning approach so we're going to learn it the same way you seem to learn best. By doing it--"

"Ya remember what happened the _last _time I tried practicing kido?" I said to them.

He should, certainly Second Division always would. Sure they had been able to replace that particular building pretty easily but they'd never let me use any of their training halls for practice again. In fact, I'd been forbidden from trying to practice kido _anywhere _within the vicinity of Second for my entire stint there. Second had a record for being filled with the masters of Kido, not the least of which was thier Captain, Soi Fon, but even she had declared that it was probably better that I not try anything that was beyond my capability.

"Kido," she explained at the time. "Requires absolute knowledge of ones self. It requires nothing less than absolute mastery of all of ones aspects, it requires a strength of mental discipline and training that you are _so far_ from being able to posses right now that it might as well be impossible for you."

Let it not be said that the Captain of Second did not know how to be brutally honest. Apparently, at the time, I had lacked that knowledge and mastery. I most likely _still _did, since I had yet to come any farther in my skills with Kido than the very basics that I had scraped by with in Academy.

"But since we're all of us here too proud to just ask for help," Snaketail continued. "We'll have to handle this ourselves... the hard way."

"What's the hard way?" I asked curiously.

"Y'see that fountain over there?" Snaketail asked me. I nodded.

"It's the manifestation of what your chakra and meridians look like right now."

I remembered from my lessons in the academy what chakra and meridians were; meridians they were the flowing pathways of energy that held a persons reiatsu and Chakra were both like wellsprings that energy came from and sort of like fans in a vent system that pushed the flow of energy out along the meridians. Meridians, I also recalled, were sort of like the warp and weft that made a tapestry, only the tapestry was the fabric of that persons very existence. Energy flowed in great channels along the wider ones and then trickled into smaller channels through the fabric of a person's soul.

I looked down into the basins they were gunky and all clogged up with swamp-like crap in the bottoms of them, a water that was strangely glowing a deep crimson flowed sluggishly in the basins in thin, tiny rivulets, seeping through the muck to flow from pool to pool... only it was more like a clogged drain than a fountain-flow.

"If you want to achieve mastery of Kido you're going to not only clean out all the crap clogging up the basins, you're going to unlock the sluice gates. It's a metaphor-- you understand metaphor?"

"Yeah, I know what a goddamn metaphor is," I growled, resenting the fact that he, too, seemed to think I was a complete idiot.

Granted, I had the tendency to play up my stupidity a little, it made people relax around me a bit more if they thought I was never any real threat, but it did on occasion hurt a little to think that people thought so little of me because they fell for my act so well. I'd never claim to be _any _sort of genius or anything, and I did have a tendency to miss the obvious sometimes, but I couldn't help the fact that I didn't always seem to see everything the way that everyone else did.

"It's a metaphor for how your meridians and chakra look right now. Those basins with their sluice gates are your chakra, they're currently bound up by our binding seals on your body. The reiatsu you can unleash now is only a fraction of your true potential--"

I stared wide-eyed at the snake in disbelief. I'd never been very strong when it came to kido or reiatsu, Rukia had always been the stronger of the two of us. I said so in the next breath, frankly unable to believe what the snake was telling me.

"You're stronger than you think you are," the snaketail replied. "Otherwise, why would it have been necessary to bind up your power in the first place?"

I didn't have a ready answer for that, of course. I recalled when I was a kid how much effort I'd had to make to call up even a small concentration of spirit energy to my hand, Rukia's light had been much larger (and far more effortless) than mine.

"How do you explain that one?" I demanded of the snake next.

"Girls mature faster than boys do," Snaketail replied easily. The Baboon King smiled and added

"Especially when the girl and the boy in question are yourself and Rukia."

I scowled over at him for the remark but was cautiously willing to acknowledge that maybe he had a point. I recalled that in the Academy my reiatsu was more than enough to get me into the advanced Kido classes as well, even though my skill at Kido was... _less _than advanced. It had ticked Rukia off to no end, certainly. I also recalled that in those classes, my reiatsu was on a level with all of the other guys--

:_Better than most of them, in fact_,: I thought to myself.

The only problem had been the fact that it was so difficult to control. It had always been backfiring on me or slipping out of my grasp and causing bigger explosions than I had intended. One had been so bad they'd had to shut down class for three days to repair the damage, and I'd gotten a months detention because the instructors had all thought I'd done it on purpose. I had really only sort of gotten a handle on it when I began making Zabimaru's acquaintance. And he had started putting those tatoo's on me.

"You _know _the spells," the snake said to me while the Baboon King looked on in measuring, dignified silence.

Great, my sword was acting like my boss, just what I didn't need. Yeah, I knew the spells, just like everyone else did, what it seemed I lacked was the discipline and other stuff, the "complete mastery over ones self and soul" and all that garbage the books had all said were absolutely neccessary to perform great works with Kido. I could shoot off a spell without all that stuff.

"And _sometimes _you even manage to hit something without burning yourself to a crisp first," Snaketail said facetiously.

Good point.

"Alright, so how's this supposed to work, I clean out that fountain and unlock all the gates right?" I said, reluctantly willing to roll up my sleeves.

"You wish," Snaketail said. "Those fountains are only a metaphor, remember. The junk that's clogging the basins is in actuality all the various emotional and spiritual problems and issues you have in clogging up each of your chakra. You have to clear away all that stuff before your meridians and chakra can flow freely and you can handle your reiatsu finally."

I regarded my sword with what must have been a blankly puzzled expression on my face.

"I don't have any problems," I replied. "If I've got a problem I beat it with my sword until it don't get back up no more. And then I go have a drink to settle it."

Both the Baboon King and Snaketail gave me this lingering, speaking look that said volumes about the claim I'd just made. Snaketail shook his tiny head and regarded his other half.

"I don't even know where to start with this one," the Babboon King replied to some unspoken question.

"Do you even hear yourself when you talk?" Snaketail demanded of me. I looked back at him, nonplussed.

"You just said that you beat all your problems into submission, then you just said that you go drinking after that."

"Yeah, so?" I asked.

I didn't see what the big deal was.

"So violence is the way you deal with material problems," the Baboon King replied with exaggerated patience. "And drinking is the way you deal with any other kind of problem you can't beat with your hands."

"What's so wrong with that?" I asked. Wasn't that how all men dealt with their problems? It had certainly worked fine for me so far.

"We're never gonna get this thing cleared out if he doesn't even realize he's got problems in the first place," Snaketail said morosely.

"Oh he knows it," Baboon King replied firmly. He looked up at me.

"What about the problem with Rukia? She chose another and there was nothing you could do about it... because you didn't even _try_. You were too _scared_."

I tried desperately to ignore the clenching feeling in my chest as his words struck home.

"And when she needed you _most_, you weren't _good enough_," he pursued.

I felt that old familiar friend anger starteing to simmer inside of me at the reminder.

"She had to rely on some _baby _from the mortal world and his little friends for a rescue, instead of _you_."

Another pang at those words and I reached for the hilt of my sword.

"And instead of telling her brother to fuck off and buying her enough time to _get away_ when you were sent to the mortal world to _fetch _her back, what did you do but bring her back neatly, just like a _dog _coming to _heel_?"

I repressed a snarl of mounting rage at that reminder.

"Fetch Renji! Arf arf!" Snaketail added snidely as an aside.

That did it. I pulled out my blade, still in its quiescent form, and lunged. Snarling an enraged

"Fuck you!"

My slice didn't land because suddenly Zabimaru was behind me.

"You see that?" the baboon king demanded of me.

I snarled and turned at bay, sword out in front of me.

"I wasn't hurting you and yet you lashed out with intent to harm, all over a couple of words that can't do anything on a battlefield. You're predictable and easily manipulated, it's no wonder you can't beat a thinking opponent in a fight. Your emotions cloud your judgment and dull your sword. I guess all you'll ever be suited for is cutting down Hollows."

That stung too, and I glared even as I sheathed my sword. Part of me kinda wanted to beat his metaphorical ass.

"So what?" I muttered sullenly. I knew I was pouting like a little brat and I didn't care. "I'm good at killin' Hollows, that's what Soul Reapers are s'posed to do."

"A_ low-rank_ Soul Reaper maybe, but you're a _lieutenant _now. Stop thinking like a peon," Snaketail said.

"I'm not!" I snapped, nettled.

There was nothin' like a little piece of yer soul being given a mouth of its own to get under yer skin.

"You're right, even a low-ranked peon could control his temper better than you do," the Baboon King replied dryly. I scowled.

"I don't get what you pickin' a fight with me is gonna do to help me master Kido," I said. "Especially if yer not actually gonna _fight _me at all."

"Stop playing stupid Renji," the Baboon King replied. "It might work on everyone else, even Rukia most of the time, but you forget that we are part of you. We know you've already grasped the concept and are now just stalling because you don't want to do it."

Nuts, they'd pinned me.

"Fine fine," I grumbled. "Ya got me, I don't want to do all that soul-searchin' bullshit yer about to ask me ta do. I think a few drinks should end the matter. I woulda ben fine that night if Rangiku hadn't shown up. Sure it might not've settled things, but I'd been able ta stuff it down just fine and take my defeat like a man _after _the hangover."

"That's exactly what we're trying to tell you," Snaketail said in exasperation. "Stuffing it down into a corner of your mind doesn't "take care of it" it only pushes it aside for a while so you can keep moving on. And drinking to cure it doesn't solve anything."

"It's all still _there _beneath the surface," The Baboon King said. "And it still has power over you. An enemy who knows you well would be able to strip you down so hard and so fast you wouldn't even lift your sword against him. You'd be so crippled by your own emotions that you wouldn't even raise your head. Or he could just as easily goad you into jumping through hoops if he wanted to."

"You've mastered the outside but if you don't master everything that's on the inside as well, you're not even _half _of a fighter," Snaketail added. "Detirmination to grow stronger will only get you so far. Holes in your mental armor translates to bad defenses."

"The seven basins you see there are representative of your seven chakra, you need to clear out and unlock each in order for the water, which is representative of your spirit energy, to flow freely," The Baboon King added.

"Ah-huh..." Renji said consideringly. "So how'm I s'posed ta do that then?"

"You will face that which lies within inside The Dreaming, Renji. Once you take up the challenge of unlocking a chakra you cannot abort it, even if it is difficult, even if you feel like you might die. The challenges and the difficulties you face will all be different, tied to the nature of each sealed chakra. You must fully master the nature of each in order to receive the key to the sluice gate that will unlock that chakra. To turn away from your task once you've started means to admit defeat and thus end the challenge."

"What happens if I end the challenge without unlocking the Chakra?" Renji asked.

"You'll die... or at least, you won't ever wake up again. It's basically the same thing," Snaketail said. "You'll just become a vegetable an' they'll probably give yer body over to Twelfth for that creepy Captain to run experiments on."

I shuddered. Talk about a fate nominally worse than death.

"So if I do this an' fail I'll never wake up and Twelfth will run experiments on my body, but if I don't do it at all I'll never get yer binding marks offa my body. Zat right?"

"Correct," the Baboon King said with ponderous dignity.

"But if ya go through with it an' win, you'll have mastered not only yourself, but all that Kido stuff which ya never quite seemed to get," Snaketail said enticingly.

I really sat back and thought about it for a long minute. It was more my nature to rush at an obstacle head on and not think too much about it other than to smash my way through it but this, I instinctively knew, was going to be another order of challenges altogether. They were likely to be the sorts of things I wasn't all that great at, cerebral and emotional stuff. Brain stuff wasn't my strongest suit, and like any guy emotional stuff just made me want to find the nearest exit (or bottle, whichever came first). On the surface this sounded like an easy way to gain mastery over Kido, but I knew damned well and from personal experience that the way that looked easy on the surface often had all kinds of unknown turbulence hidden in its depths.

:_But even if I do master Kido by reading it outta some book, and there sure as hell ain't no guarantee about that, I won't have that mastery over myself the chimera here is offering, I'd just be learning it by rote and not improving_.:

My goal was to hone my edge, it wasn't _supposed _to be easy. I might not be bleeding by the end of it, but even I gotta to admit that I do a lot o' my bleeding on the inside. So even if it was deceptively simple sounding, I wasn't going in there expecting a cakewalk. I thought I saw a glimmer of approval in the Baboon Kings eyes at that.

"I'll do it," I said simply. They'd already known I would, heck, maybe we'd all three known it, but this way I couldn't claim later that I hadn't known what I was lettin' myself in for.

"Good," was all the Baboon King said.

* * *

**I love these chapters! This one and the upcoming ones were some of my favorites to write. I just love writing the real Zabimaru and Renji of course. **


	11. Living in a Tenth

"So how's this thing get started?" I asked.

"Sit down in the first basin and close your eyes," the Baboon King replied.

I did as he instructed, trying not to feel nervous. I always felt a little tense right before I went into a battle, but I'd always had Zabimaru there at my side. Goin' it alone was not a comfortable feeling for me.

Once my eyes were closed, I felt a strange sensation, it was sort of like when I consume too much alcohol and the room starts to spin around really fast. I felt a dizzy, falling feeling and then found myself on my feet in a strange scape that looked like nothing at all. What was going on? Where was the challenge?"

"It's about _time _you showed up old man," a piping childish voice from behind me said.

I spun around, crouching, my hand automatically reaching for my absent sword. I straightened immediately, puzzled at finding a little boy of about six or seven standing in front of me, glaring up at me and trying to look tough, but I could see the haunted shadows on his face, the knowledge in his eyes that all the world was bigger than him and if he wanted to make it at all he was gonna have to be tough. I blinked again, the red hair, the stained and ragged little yukata, that little boy was--

"You're me," I blurted in amazement.

"Duh dumbass," the pint-sized little squirt retorted. "I'm yer first challenge so git ready."

I stared back at him. Even if he was me at a young age, I could still smack him around blindfolded and with both hands tied behind my back.

"I didn't come here to waste time fighting with a little kid," I said. "Show me the challenge already."

"Geeze, it's a wonder we weuz ever any kinda thief if yer that impatient. What about waitin' fer yer mark to loose his attention? Don't you remember all those times we had ta crouch down while our belly rumbled for our mark ta turn 'is back, or drop his guard, or be distracted by somethin' else? Anyway, that's not why yer here. I'm yer first challenge, the first chakra... the Root Chakra."

It was kinda strange to see a little six year old me look so solemn.

"Okay, an' that means what, 'zactly?" I asked, irritated.

"The Root Chakra is the base which all the other, higher levels are built on. If there's flaws in yer foundation the whole structure collapses. This here is the one that takes care o' basic survival stuff."

"So that explains why yer in it," I said dryly.

If there was _anyone _who was all about just basic survival, it was the kid I used ta be in the Rukon District. Until Rukia'd come along I hadn't much thought about the future, my only real concern was where my next meal was comin' from.

"It handles stuff like fight or flight," mini-me said. "But it can get blocked up by fear. Y'know a _little _fear's a good thing cause it'll keep you alive, but deeper fears about other stuff, that's the stuff that can give other people mastery over ya, an' make you loose control o' yerself. So yer gonna be faced with what ya fear..."

And with that, the grey scape around me seemed to come alive, sort of. The misty cloud-stuff around me was suddenly a multiple montage of all the times in my life I'd failed spectacularly. Haru, Rukia, myself, my captains... all of them were in there. I couldn't save my gang member from being killed by a mean drunk, I hadn't been able to save Rukia (and that one really hurt), I couldn't even beat one lousy Espada on my own. I felt a crushing weight on my shoulders. I was even more of a screw-up than I'd originally thought. What the hell were they doing, promoting a guy like me to Lieutenant?

Even worse, when it got done with all of the things I'd failed to do, that horror-show started in on all of the things I hadn't done because I didn't want to fail badly. Kido was the _least _of them. The one that really punched me in the gut was Rukia; I was _terrified _she'd reject me so I never told her how I felt about her.

The list went on and on; I kept everyone at an arms length, even my friends in the Reapers, because deep down I was afraid that they'd all get one good look at what was inside of me and realize that I was just garbage from the outer districts that somehow snuck past the gate and was completely _not _worth it. I was afraid to trust people with my own problems because I didn't want them to think I was not able to handle whatever came my way, so I never confided in anyone, I never asked for help even when I needed it. I'd never fully stood up and roared in the Seireitei because I was afraid that I'd never be considered acceptable for her if I did, so I kept my head down and followed orders (at least until recently) even if I thought they were bullshit. This chakra was hitting targets and weak points that I hadn't even known were there.

"Oh, ya knew they were there alright," the kid said to my unspoken thought. "Ya just didn't want to admit it, even to yerself."

"Yeah, okay, so I'm afraid. I live every goddamn day in a constant state of cowardice, there are ya happy, can I go now?"

"It's not enough to simply know they're there, dumbass," the kid said.

Had I ever talked like that when I was his age?

"Now you have to release each of them so that they don't have any more power over you. That's the only way you gain mastery over 'em."

"How 'n the hell am I s'posed ta do that?" I demanded.

Instead of answering me the kid pointed. The dark grey mist, deep and ominous as the heart of a thunderhead swirled up around me and suddenly the sourcless light of this not-world I was in cut off. There was no light, no sound, no sensation, it was like everything I was used to sensing and interpreting was a blank slate now and i was I was left with was _me. _ It was pitch black in that place without sound or motion. A sourceless light shone down on me, but it felt sort of like I was suspended in mid-air.

"Renji," a familiar sweet and soft voice said from behind me. "You really are a first-rate idiot."

Was I hallucinating this?... because that sounded _exactly _like something she'd say.

"Great," I muttered in resignation. "Everyone else seems to be getting their kicks today out of ripping me to shreds, why don't _you _get yer licks in too? Why not, go ahead."

She promptly smacked me on the backside of my head. That, too, was just like her.

"Did you really think I'd tell you to bugger off just because you admit you can't do everything?" Rukia asked me, sounding annoyed. "You really thought that I'd throw you over because you aren't perfect?"

Well, sort of. Ancestors knew she had always been quick enough before to pick a fault and rag me on it, that was half the reason we were always fighting, I was hard for me to feel like I might be worthy of her if she insisted on pointing out everything I did wrong. I poked fun at her sometimes just to point out that even if I had faults she had 'em too.

"No man is an island Renji," Kira's voice said quietly from beside me.

He'd once said something similar to me on one of our drinking celebrations together. I hadn't known _what _to make of it, a warrior lived or died by their own strength. He'd seemed a little disappointed when I'd looked back at him with puzzled blankness that time.

"Besides," said the fragile-looking Momo, appearing on my other side. "You can't live your life staying away from others just because you're afraid to get hurt or you'll hurt them."

She smiled sweetly up at me.

"You'll never _grow _that way. People are meant to make their homes in the hearts of other people."

"Yeah, but... what if those people leave you?" I protested, thinking back to the hilltop with three graves on it. "What if I'm not strong enough to make them stay?"

I'd tried so hard and failed so much, a person would have to be crazy to want me around.

"People's destinies are their own decisions," Kira ssaid. "Just as your own is yours."

Kira and Momo faded out.

"But that doesn't mean that you're always alone either," Rukia said, coming up beside me. "Haven't we always been together? Haven't you always tried your best for me? That's good enough, right?"

"I..." I paused, feeling suddenly like I was on the cusp of seeing something.

"Besides asshole," the shiney-pated head of my former sempai in Eleventh said, swinging his spear across his shoulders. "It's not like yer not gonna get up and keep goin' at it, or else what are ya wastin' yer time for?" He too disappeared back into the shadows where he'd come from.

"So it's okay to fail sometimes," Rukia said softly. "You aren't the kind of person who gives in easily."

"Oh yeah?" I argued, finding something to shut the hallucination up with. All this love-me crap was gettin' on my nerves. "Then how come I never told you how I feel?"

It wasn't like I hadn't had opportunities enough. I just hadn't done it because... well there were a _lot _of reasons.

"Out of all the things to fear, love is probably the scariest of them all," she said seriously.

Ain't _that _the truth.

Fear of loosing your life or your status was one thing, with death you only had to fear being put back into the cycle of rebirth, and that wasn't so bad, really. Sure it meant that your current existence would end, but that was not _nearly _as terrifying as the thought of living without the person I cared for most in all of my existence. It was one thing to think that my life might end, it wasn't worth all that much in the first place, but the thought of telling her how I felt and her rejecting me, and my never ever being allowed to be near her again... _that_ was _truly _terrifying. At least with death there was the cold consolation that I had done it for duty, but possibly loosing something I cared deeply about because I selfishly wanted my feelings returned... if it all went wrong I wouldn't even have to cold consolation of duty. It would all just be _gone_.

Faced with the idea and with no-one around to hear me or know about it but me and no consequences from her because this was all a hallucination anyway, I thought about leaning down and kissing her.

"No cheating," she said disappearing from her place beside me and reappearing behind me. "That won't help you at all you know, even if you kissed me here, you'd still be afraid to loose me in real life."

I shivered at the thought, even just hearing the words spoken out loud could make my blood go cold. Out of all the things in the world that I feared, that had to be the only one that had the power to shake me really bad. The thought that the girl who had always been such a precious part of my life would one day just simply no longer be there was unbearable. I could handle the thought that she might pick someone else because I'd at least have to cold consolation that I'd always be her friend, but if she disappeared somewhere that I couldn't get to... I didn't honestly know what I would do.

:_I guess in my book **anything **else is acceptable, as long as she's still part of my world_,: I thought.

Well that was it... if loosing her was my greatest fear then I was never going to unlock this chakra. I would always be afraid of loosing her, so much so that it would probably always make me desperate and irrational.

"Everyone fears loss," my boy-self said, appearing out of nowhere as Rukia disappeared. "It's natural. You're surrounded by death so much that you sometimes forget some of the basics about life, including the fact that it doesn't come with any guarantees. In order for you to remove that fear's control over you, you have to accept that there are things you can and cannot do."

"But... I just don't think I can do that," I said, feeling a little helpless.

I'd lived for all of my adult life with the hope that if I worked long and hard enough, whatever I aimed for could be reached. All it would take was time and work. But to accept the idea that there would be times when I could do nothing... it just went against the grain. Even worse, to accept the idea that, despite everything I worked for, I was helpless to--

"No-one can predict or understand the vagaries of the heart," this time it was Rangiku appearing before me. "That's a kind of battle where I wonder if there are ever any winners _at all_. Still, it's also the kind of thing that no-one has any control over... what sort of sane person would choose to live in madness like this?"

"So how the hell are you supposed to win against something that nobody can control? I _can't_ loose her, and if I were ever faced with the possibility of loosing her forever I'd sure as hell fight with everything I had to prevent it."

"And that's exactly the way ya _should _be, dummy! No-one's saying don't fight, I'm just saying ya gotta know that there's a time when you're not gonna be enough, when you're gonna fail, when you're gonna loose sumthin'. Ya can't just roll over an' refuse ta go on," my younger self said. "Where would you be if you refused to keep going after Haru died?"

"So I don't get what you're sayin' then," I said, unsure what his point was.

The kid sighed and rolled his eyes, and I thought about bopping his head for insolence but recognized that it was my own distemper causing me to feel so irritated so I let him be.

"Ya gotta find somethin' that's gonna let you keep going on into the future without all yer regrets draggin' behind ya like chains of yer own making. Ya gotta find a way that's gonna let you live, not without fear, but without yer fear having the power ta control ya."

Why didn't he just ask me to pull down the moon while I was at it?

"Hey old man, no-one said that unlocking this chakra was s'posed ta be easy," the kid commented snidely.

How the hell was I supposed to fight against helplessness, because if something ever happened to Rukia and I hadn't been able to stop it, I'd never forgive myself.

:_Wait_,: I thought, my mind and world pausing as I came to a sudden realization.

The chakra was blocked by fear; fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of loss... the one thing that would remove the sting from all of those things was--

"Forgiveness," I realized.

If I forgave myself for the times when I fell short, then the fear would loose the worst of it's power over me.

The kid smiled smugly up at me, pleased.

"Sometimes bad things do happen, and there's nothing you can do about it," I said out loud, feeling my way towards the answer in the dark. "But the answer isn't to just accept it, because that means yer not doing anything to change it and ya just become part of it. However, ya gotta be strong ta fight it, and ya can't be strong if yer weighed down by fear. Sometimes also, when ya let fear of repeating a prior mistake guide yer actions then ya end up over-compensating and making even _worse _ones because yer fear still has power over you. The only way to take the sting out of fear is if ya just forgive yourself. If you forgive yourself for the things ya can't change then yer free ta fight them without them weighing you down."

The boy was grinning. I found myself grinning back. It was weird to think that such a complex issue could actually have a simple answer.

"Don't get too cocky," my younger self added. "It's one thing to realize this fer yerself, it's another thing to _live _it. It's a lot harder."

I thought about that for a moment and had to agree.

"You ready for this?" he asked, summoning up a crystal orb in his hands.

Inside the orb I could see all of the fears and failures that I'd allowed to have power over me for so long. Loss, sorrow, failure, rejection, pain... they were all there. _Waiting _for me.

"No," I said honestly.

I'd never really be ready, but like anything else, you were never really ready for something like this, you just got through it as best you could and that made you ready.

"But bring it on anyway."

Suddenly I was slammed back into a vision of myself as a young punk on the streets, watching as a disembodied ghost while Rukia and I held the hand of Miki, our friend who had died of summer fever. I remembered that I had been frantic to save him, visiting every herb-woman and quack physician in running distance, desperate to buy medicine to save his life. I'd got into fights to get enough money to pay for treatment, I'd even cut the purses and picked the pockets of high-ranking thugs (which could be suicide if a kid wasn't careful) but nothing had helped him. In the end I was left holding his hand as he died and apologizing that I hadn't gotten him the help he'd needed. I'd never really forgiven myself for that.

"I forgive me for that," I said softly. "I _know _it wasn't my fault. I _know _I did my best."

With a conscious effort of will, I let go of the regret and pain I'd held onto for all these years and made myself to realize that I was not at fault for circumstances I couldn't control.

It was strange, but somehow... I did feel lighter.

The memories came, one after the other. Loss of the friends who were my family, loss of Rukia in hopes she'd have a better life, failure and fear... the hardest among which was forgiving myself for wasting all that time on a _stupid _rule that didn't _matter_. Rukia and I would _always _have our bond, it was silly to think otherwise, but I had to forgive myself for doubting her and fearing that she would deem me unworthy of her. After each memory saying the words and _meaning _them got a little easier, and I felt better, lighter somehow. It was almost like the burdens that I hadn't been aware were chaining me down were being cast off, chain by chain.

At the end I found myself standing back on the log with Zabimaru lounging nearby on one of the branches. I looked over at the fountain and found clutched in my hand a key. All the dirt and dead stuff was out of the bottom basin and I saw in the very center a keyhole.

"Go on," Zabimaru commanded.

Not reluctant, I inserted the key in the hole and turned, hearing the lock click over. There was a reddish flash of light and a strange symbol appeared in the bottom of the basin around the keyhole with a sort of misty glow. It looked like a circle with four flower petals outside it and a square and a triangle inside it. The light flashed once and then disappeared and next, bubbling up from the bottom, was a clear perfect energy, rising with a misty flow and lilling me, just by proximity with an almost overwhelming rush of power and energy and well-being.

"Excellent work," Zabimaru said, sounding grudgingly approving.

I grinned and jutted my chin up.

"Nuthin' ta fear but fear itself," I said jauntily.

Zanimaru looked over at me with a long measuring look, taking in my strangely light hearted state and smiled slowly.

"I think this is enough for one day," the Baboon King said. "You had best return to yourself before your Captain get's overly impatient."

"Wha--?"

My surprise was cut off by suddenly finding myself slammed back into my body. I was still sitting cross legged under that tree like I had been earlier today. My body felt a little strange; it was sore and achey from staying in one spot for so long, but at the same time I had such an odd and powerful feeling of well-being. I opened my eyes and noted that it was not only dark outside, but that the moon was hanging high in the sky.

"Ah, so my lazy lieutenant has finally decided to rejoin us," a dry, cool voice said off to my right.

"Huh..?" I asked groggily, trying to get my bearings.

Why was it night outside, and why was my captain here? I had just closed my eyes a moment ago. My stomach growled demandingly. Well, there was no better clock in the world than my stomach, it was definitely past dinner time.

"Thank-goodness Lieutenant," the voice of Nemu said off tot he other side of me. "I thought I might have to go and fetch my father or Captain Unohana to examine you."

"Given the choice, don't _ever _pick the Twelfth Captain please," I croaked around a dry throat.

Further eveidence that whatever I had been doing, a large amount of time had passed me by while I'd been in Zabimaru's world and in the scape where I'd underwent my trial.

"I got worried when you didn't show up for the meeting you'd arranged," Nemu told me. "So I went looking for you and found you here. There was some kind of spiritual barrier around you, and given your... inadequate knowledge of kido, I feared that something bad had happened to you. So I went and got your Captain."

"It's nothing to fear Lieutenant Kurotsuchi," Captain Kuchiki said, gesturing that I should rise to my feet.

I tried to untuck my legs, and my knees exploded into agony. My lower back wasn't feeling all that great either, and I couldn't feel my butt or toes. I groaned unhappily in agony, and curled on my side, leaning against the tree I tried to rise to my feet. I couldn't do it at first and it took me a minute as my knees creaked and my spine popped. I'd always thought I was in good shape, but I was _not _the kind of guy who spent a lot of time sitting in one place if I could help it.

"Thanks for lookin' for me Nemu," I said, smiling at her in a friendly way as I followed my captain back to our squad hall. "I'll see you about that thing in the morning."

She bowed her acceptance of the delay and went her own way. I quickly worked the worst of the kinks out of my body and rose to my feet. The Captain nodded and turned toward Sixth without another word as was usual for him.

I paced along beside my Captain, as usual he wasn't looking back nor was he making idle conversation. I didn't expect either, Byakuya Kuchiki never spoke unless he had something to say. I actually appreciated that about him; after all, I _could _get stuck with someone like that Twelfth Division Captain, who, once he got going on his own greatness and superior intelligence, wouldn't shut up about it.

"Your reiatsu," he said, quietly into the night just before we reached the HQ of Sixth.

"Uh, what about it?" I asked.

"It's... _different_," he informed me.

I frowned, a little surprised, and brought up my wrist to take in a whiff over my tongue. I was perfectly aware of what my own soul-scent tasted like, and damned if he wasn't _right_. It was stronger, and thicker somehow... sort of like the difference between skim milk and cream.

"Huh," I grunted, deciding not to comment about my new training regimen. I changed the subject instead.

"Sorry about going missing all afternoon--" I started only to find myself, shockingly, interrupted by the Captain.

"You were... meditating?" he asked.

Was it my imagination, or did the Kuchiki sound like he couldn't believe it.

"I'm not sure it's sumthin' so _high-brow_ as all o' that," I mumbled.

I didn't want him lookin' at me like I was some kind o' mystic or intellectual kinda guy or something. He didn't comment so I finished my sentence.

"I'll finish the paperwork tonight and have it on yer desk in th' mornin'."

"I will not be in tomorrow at all," the Kuchiki said. "Instead, since the paperwork was not finished when I came to Sixth to pick it up today, you shall deliver it to me at my residence tomorrow. The Matriarch of the Kuchiki family will be holding a social and political function and I will not be able to depart it unless there is an emergency so you will have to bring the papers to my place of residence. I trust you know the way."

"Sure," I said. "I'll bring 'em by."

I'd only ever been to the Kuchiki estate once before, the time when Rukia was injured and recovering, after her botched execution. The Kuchiki might be my boss, but we didn't associate _socially_, why _would _we after all? He was several social strata above me, even though I was a Lieutenant. High-ranked officers were ranked among the nobility technically, but I sure as hell had never once been invited to attend one of their social functions. I wasn't really being invited now either, just being asked to play personal delivery boy.

Kuchiki nodded absently at my acceptance and seemed like he was waiting for something. Oh, he knew it was coming so there was no point in containing my curiousity. Funny, it was almost like a game the two of us played... he politely pretended to be ignorant of my feelings for his adopted sister even though there was no way a guy like him could not have noticed, and I pretended that any time I asked about her I was just politely inquiring about his family or something. Face was saved on both sides, and as long as it didn't go any further than that it seemed he didn't feel any need to interfere. It was an odd sort of situation to work around but it seemed that this was the way we handled it. I was glad that Kuchiki wasn't someone like Yoruichi Shihouin or, dear gods that Uruhara, who would needle and slyly tease me mercilessly about it. There were times when I was sort of glad that my Captain was the cold, icy sort who would rather cut off a finger than show emotion.

"So, how was your day with your sister?" I asked casually, my voice pitched to sound nonchalant, even though I was certain beyond a doubt that neither of us here was fooled about this.

"It went well," Kuchiki replied and I tried not to show my shock.

Kuchiki never answered! He always gave this look from the corner of his eye and went his own way without making any sort of reply before, as if having a casual relationship with his Lieutenant was beneath him or answering politie inquiries was somehow undignified.

"My younger sister was pleased with the homecoming gift I gave to her, though she was understandably nervous and distracted by the upcoming event."

I wondered if I should just keel over right then and there from surprise; not only had he answered my question but he'd expanded on it. I tried not to feel too pleased by it and wondered if I should say something in reply or just keep my mouth shut like I usually did. It was a rare opportunity to actually hold something that resembled a conversation with my boss. We worked well enough (most days) as Captain and Lieutenant, but our relationship as two people was turbulent under the surface. I respected him, even if I _didn't_ like him, and that seemed fine with him; but for some reason, more and more, it _wasn't_ fine with me. This guy, no matter the fact that I held a grudge against him for taking Rukia away from me, no matter that I didn't like what he'd turned her into after he did... this guy was important to Rukia, so he wasn't someone I could truly dislike. Rukia cared about him as a brother which in an odd sort of way made him (very, _very, **very **_distantly) a brother to me. I'd help him out on this one, since it was fer Rukia.

"To tell the truth, Rukia ain't never been much of a social butterfly, even back at the flop-house she didn't really interact much outside o' my gang unless someone did sumthin' that pissed her off," I said honestly.

"As a Kuchiki she must learn to wield greater skill and acumen within the social world, it is a pity that she seems to lack the confidence to do so."

I almost stared dumbfoundedly at him. Had he just _commiserated _with me?! No way! Who was this clone with human tendencies and what had he done with my Captain?!

"Well," I fished for a suitable reply, one that wouldn't impune Rukia and by extension his House and yet would convey honestly the idea I wanted to get across. Analogies worked well with guys like him, nobles seemed ta just thrive on double-talk, where they were sayin' one thing but really they were talkin' about somethin' completely different. I'd try that, I guessed.

"Confidence is one of those things that can take time and a lot of care ta build," I said carefully. "Ya take a tree out of its soil and put it somewhere else, sometimes it don't get all the stuff it needs ta grow. Ya gotta take extra care ta see that it has all the water and nutrients it's used to or it'll wither around the edges."

Kuchiki just looked at me unreadably. Maybe he hadn't gotten it? I tried again.

"Once had a couple o' dogs at th' flop-house fer extra warmth in winter," I said.

Nevermind that they'd had fleas, we'd _all _had fleas, and the extra warmth and protection had been worth it to our minds. Plus, a lot o' th' littles had been real attached to 'em.

"One day one o' th' littles brought back a new pup ta feed, scrawney thing it was. Lot o' th' other big dogs didn't take t' the pup at first, they pushed it around and tried ta drive it off, but eventually the pup attached himself well enough ta th' alpha female and sorted himself out. After a while the other dogs stopped pickin' on him and let 'im be, once he grew enough leg and teeth that they couldn't knock him around anymore."

:_There, that should do it_,: I thought proudly of my analogy.

Kuchiki seemed ta study me fer a long minute, made as small noise of acknowledgment for my statement, and turned his own way as usual. I could have sworn, though, that i could detect the barest trace of amusement around him. Anyone else wouldn't have noticed it, but I _knew _people, I could be sensitive to body clues when I wanted to pay attention, and I felt that I was slowly getting to know my boss just a little bit better over time.

"see that you finish that paperwork and present yourself to the house gate early tomorrow Lieutenant," was all he said.

"Yessir," I replied and we both went our separate ways.

* * *

**You get an extra scene and a thousand words on this one... that convo between Renji and Byakuya Kuchiki wasn't in the original draft but for some reason as I was going over it and doing my final, last minute editing the scene just wrote itself. **

**Probably a good half of the fics that have Reji in them put him in a yaoi pairing with Kuchiki and as fun and entertaining (and kinda hawt!) as the idea might be, it's sadly not cannon. But personally I like the complexity of the three way relationship between Rukia and Byakuya and Renji (in a non-sandwich kind of way, get your minds out of the gutter please) where Rukia cares about Byakuya for taking her in and making her part of his family (even if he never looked at her) and Renji cares about rukia because he cares about Rukia, and he works his way to being lieutenant of Sixth so he can get closer to Kuchiki's sister (you heard it from Kira so that makes it official). But beyond that, you really get the feeling that Renji genuinely respects Kuchiki as a man and a Captain and doesn't really want to hold a grude against him, even though he does. You also just know that Byakuya Kuchiki is perfectly aware of Renji's motivations, and part of you is wondering if he isn't just amused by it all. it's almost too bad that Rukia is completely oblivious about all of this, because she seems the sort of little minx that would have a whole lot of fun with it if she did know.**

**Anyway, major digression there. The best part about this chapter for me still, is Renji making his way through his first chakra. Major landmark there. Fear is a difficult thing to struggle with and it's a huge block in the path of personal growth, Renji's new-found awareness of the power of self-forgiveness will only help him on the path to greater growth. I love writing stuff like that. **

**I want to say an enormous thank-you to all of the kind and wonderful people who have left and continue to leave me such great reveiws. War90, AngelIre, KuraOkami13, BloodyRoses my regulars, You guys are the reason I post, seriously. It makes me happy to know that my work is being read and apprieciated by people who aren't immediately turned off if a story starts out slow and takes time to build to the action. And there will be action, don't worry. After all, what's the point of a new enemy if you don't get to fight it?**

**(Sheesh, I'm positively chatty today, I guess I'm just excited about the chakra. Can't help it, the idea of the binding marks and Renji having to work to unlock his chakra was one of the ideas that made me start writing this monster of a fic.) So please, don't be shy and let me know what you thought of it. I'll see you Thursday!**


	12. Eleventh Hour

Turning into my office at the Squad Headquarters, I lit a candle and reviewed what awaited me there. I looked over at the small pile waiting for me on my desk, they were mostly reports from the field for me to read over then enter into summary log-book, and file under their proper places. I could do that in the morning. My body was feeling stiff and creaky from being stuck in one place for most of a day. The best way to loosen it up would be with some good quality exercise. I still had that new move to work on for Zabimaru, after all.

:_Yeah, I think it can wait a little while_,: I told myself, reversing my steps and heading out to the Squad training court.

It was almost the middle of the night by now, and the air was chill enough to cover the loose turf and the patches of grass with dew. A hint of frost still hung in the air from the recent winter, and there was enough nip in the breeze to ensure that I stayed nice and cool for practice. I didn't skimp on warm up excersizes, I'd heard enough lectures from Unonhana on the subject of impatient young hot-heads who made more work for her and her nurses.

I took a deep breath of the night-scented air and considered the empty moonlit court before me, deciding which would be the best training exercise for me to practice. I frowned a bit after a minute, noticing that something felt a little off. I looked around and scented the winds, there didn't seem to be anything around me that I could detect that _felt _any different, though now that I paused to notice it the individual reiatsu's of the Reapers in the nearby barracks _did _feel just a little clearer to me right then.

:_There's something **different**_,: I thought, puzzled.

I pulled out Zabimaru and transformed him to Shikai for practice. I blinked and stared down at my blade for a very long moment.

It felt lighter. Zabimaru had never been terribly heavy, but there had always been a weight to him that had made him satisfyingly solid in my grasp. Now he felt noticeably lighter in my hand.

I looked sightlessly out over the courtyard before me and realized just what it was that felt so different about tonight. My sword was lighter... and so was I.

Always before I had approached practice with Zabimaru as though every practice was a true life or death battle. I'd always been pushing myself to excel; to beat my best time, to refine a technique, to swing harder or longer or quicker, to bring more power into my attacks. I set goals for every practice session and mock-battle and wouldn't allow myself to rest until I achieved those goals. I'd gone into every practice with a serious-minded attitude that was really at odds with how I generally was as a person. Not once in all the time I'd been practicing with the goal in mind of making it to where I wanted to be had I ever thought of practice with Zabimaru as something other than a way of increasing my abilities with my partner. When I practiced, it was _work_! I never practiced just for fun, it was always serious for me. Granted, you didn't get better by goofing off, but it seemed a little sad somehow that I never just wanted to play a bit.

I rested back on my hip and regarded my shikai Zabimaru gleaming in the moonlight. It had been a productive day, and I was really only out here for the exercise anyway, no-one was watching me or grading my performance, and a sudden attack by a horde of shrieking Hollows was vanishingly likely... there was nothing stopping me from having a little bit of fun for a change.

:_Whad'ya think Buddy_?: I asked him. :_Up for a little fun tonight_?:

I felt a delighted tickle in the back of my mind and, taking it for the assent that it was, I launched myself at my target. I didn't set any goals for speed or technique, it was more or less just do whatever the heck I felt like. I was surprised by how good it actually _did _feel. It took me back to the way I had felt in those days at the Academy, learning my way around Zabimaru for the first time. The power and freedom I had felt for the first time as we had taken out out target after target together. It had felt good then, and I wasn't saying that the times I'd practiced since then had not felt good, but practice just wasn't as nice when one was driven and purposeful; I had forgotten the way it felt when it was just me and Zabimaru, fighting and learning together without any pressure. With a strange sense of epiphany I realized that a lot of the pressure I felt, was pressure that I put on myself so that I would be strong enough and good enough to never fail, but now that the fear of failure had lost its hold over me a number of shackles I hadn't even realized were there were loosened and falling off, leaving me feeling almost like I was floating.

That night, the practice session with Zabimaru felt a little like fighting with my own shadow, the movements of dodge and lunge and twist and snap flowed all in a seamless pattern, as sinuous as the snake he resembled. Like yin and yang we circled each other, each having a power that the other felt, tied to each other and part of each other. It felt good just moving with him, our movements mirroring each other so we were like partners in a dance and a single entity at once.

It felt just a little like flying when I launched myself up into the air and arching my back to push upwards and then kicking my leg over into an axle spin. Zabimaru curled in loosely around me. As we descended I pushed him outward, as I fell back down to the earth he soared towards my target and hit beautifully, momentum from the coiling leap we'd taken restored and he flowed perfectly into a reverse slash that took out my next two targets.

Showing off for no-one but myself, I preened a little inwardly at the fact that only Zabimaru combined such power and grace of motion with such deadly blades. Other swords could have enormous edges or ribbons and other doodads attached to them, but Zabimaru was beauty and grace and deadly precision and power all in one. I found myself smiling, really _enjoying_ myself for the first time in a long time. He and I both felt light as feathers and I was feeling particularly good that night, like there wasn't anything I couldn't do.

:_So why not just try it_?: I wondered to myself, feeling light and sorta happy right then.

I was feeling good and we both seemed to be in good form. So why not give it a try?

There had been one technique I'd been trying for _years _to prefect, but had never been able to make work the way I wanted it to. I was supposed to be able to jump in the air in a theifs crouch, whirl Zabimaru around me so he tightened into a coil, then shoot him out to lodge head-first into something, and once he was secure, make a curling motion with my end and then slide down the extended flats of the blade on my feet, sort like a grind down a rail in skateboarding. Once I was near the end I'd pull Zabimaru back to rest in his sword-form and then really let my target have it with all the momentum we'd built up. That was the idea at least. I'd never quite managed it, and after nearly a straight three months of having Unohana or one of her staff treat me for lacerations on the soles of my feet, she'd personally banned my practicing the maneuver herself, the ban to be enforced by cudgel if neccessary. So I hadn't tried for it in several years. Maybe now was agood time.

I felt a feeling of approval from the sword and took that as an okay for a go. With a feral grin of challenge on my face, I sped towards a nearby boulder and sprung off it to launch myself up into the air, spinning upwards with Zabimaru in a tightening coil around me. I shot Zabimaru at a nearby post to embed the head as an anchor and curled and flipped in mid-air, whipping with a half-moon slice to one side to that the blade was facing the proper direction, I straightened my legs and touched the flats of his extended blade, my own momentum sliding me down along it. I wove a bit as the ever-present motion became difficult to compensate for, but I was already much farther along in this move than I had ever managed before so it was okay with me if it wasn't perfect (for a change). When one particularly unpredictable swing threatened to start causing problems, I dropped to the side and let myself hit the ground again, crouching and rolling as Zabimaru snapped back into ready position.

:_Not perfect, but **still...**_!: I thought, very pleased with our teamwork as I called a halt for the night and walked to cool-down as i headed over to the drinking fountain to the place where I'd thrown my top off, mid-excercize, to keep cool. I was surprised to see a silent form sitting in the grass next to my shirt, a familiar form that I should have sensed earlier. I guessed I was more into my practice than I'd thought.

"Hey Rukia," I said, dipping my head down to drink from the spout so she wouldn't see my expression of mingled joy and pain.

I was happy to see her after a while of being apart from her due to her mission in the mortal world, but at the same time it was hard to look at her.

"Hey Renji," she said with her usual quiet solemnity. "You're up late, do you usually practice in the middle of the night?"

Yeah," I said sticking my head under the fountain to rinse of the sweat and then shaking myself like a dog.

"It's quieter," I explained. "And there ain't no-one around to see my screw ups. Well, _usually _that is."

"I'll go if you want me to," she said.

"No, no stay," I said, just a bit too quickly.

Fool that I was, even if it hurt, I just wanted to be near her.

"I'm done practicing for the night anyway."

I flopped down beside her and stretched out, using my wadded up shirt as a pillow. No, I was not showing off for the girsl it was just that I was still warm from the excesize and that was my story and I was sticking to it.

"You, um... You looked good, out there," she said.

Her tone sounded a little shy.

"I mean, your movements were, um, very fluid. That move you made at the end was a little choppy but other than that... and have you gotten faster?"

"Workin' on a new technique," I told her. "And that last you saw is the closest I've come so far to an old one that I've never quite got the hang of. It was a _good _practice."

I didn't bother keeping the note of pleased satisfaction from my voice at what I felt was a bit of well-earned swagger. It _had _been a good practice and I felt I deserved a little recognition for it. I was glad she'd caught me on a good night rather than one of those practice sessions where nothing ever seems to go right, though, I caught enough crap from her without her having to see all my screw-ups.

Rukia seemed to regard me with wide eyes. Like I'd just said something unusual.

"How often do you practice like this?" she asked.

"About every night," I said, mystified as to why her eyes seemed to get even wider when I said that.

I had a morning practice regimen too, one that I usually woke up around dawn for, it was done in my own home though, with Zabimaru left in his un-shikaied state. I just warmed up, stretched my body limber, then went through combo-reps and ten of the sword forms before cooling off, bathing and heading out for the day. Night-practice was for outside because I couldn't swing a snaketail in a room seeing as it would destroy the room in question if I tried it. Even I had more sense than ta go an' do that.

"Usually it's for longer but I did a lot of running around today so I thought I'd take it easy," I said, shrugging casually. "Why? How often do you practice?"

"Uhmmmm..." she said hesitantly. "Not as often as _that_, that's for certain."

"Oh," I said. "Good thing yer not in my squad then," I blurted out honestly.

An instant later I wished I hadn't. Rukia _never _took criticism well.

"Why's that?" she asked, a slight edge to her tone.

"Uh, no reason," I lied quickly.

I should have known better, that woman could smell a lie better than a snake could smell a nest of baby mice.

"No I really want to know, Renji," she said.

"Well, if you _reeeaally_ wanna know," I said with a teasing smile over at her. She'd _asked _after all.

"I saw yer last battle with a Hollow and if you'd been a member of my squad, I'd have had you doin' drills with the element that had all the rest o' the noobs in it."

She stared at me in shock and mounting offense.

"Are you implying, _Mister _Abarai, that my skills as a Reaper are somewhat wanting?" she asked sharply, cheeks flushing a little in anger.

"Rukia, you know me better than that," I said, putting a mockingly injured hand to my chest I said. "I never imply. I'm stating a fact, your skills could use some work."

"Oh really?" she said. "I've seen you on a battlefield too mister, I'm surprised you could fight your way out of a paper bag."

She scoffed with her cute little nose in the air. I regarded her for a long moment. There was a lot I could say to that, starting with "which of the two of us got caught with their pants down by an ordinary Hollow on their first mission" and go from there, but I really wasn't looking for the kind of ugly verbal fight that that would bring on. I was starting to see that a lot of Rukia's and my own problems with ourselves and each other came from the fact that, due to our own insecurities, we couldn't seem to stop using each other as verbal scratching posts to sharpen our claws on. I was starting to see that the tendency we'd developed of using each other to fight with had gone beyond the puppies-rustling-in-the-litter stage and could be an actual problem. When we'd been younger, being tough and proud was how you survived, if you were stronger that meant you were better and that gave you status and respect, so we'd always been at each other throats (more or less) as a way of keeping each other sharp and toughening each other up so the world couldn't tear us down. I'd been too dumb to notice when that habit had started to change what I was and was _not _willing to reveal to her. She'd always been quick to pick a fault and rag me about it, but I couldn't say with any honesty that I wasn't the same way in my own way. She called me dumb and clumsy, but I was always willing to point out that I was, hands-down, a better fighter than she was. How had I not noticed that our constant claw-sharpening was alienating us from each other? Well, that'd have to stop. Time to try out a little more of that diplomacy thing I was picking up from Momo and Kira. So instead I said to her assertion

"I didn't say that I don't have areas to improve on, but you _do _see me improving on them though, don't you? I can't rest on my laurels, because in my world there's always someone better out there waiting to take what I've got."

I stretched out lazily along the ground, letting the cool grass soak the exertion-heat from my body as the sweat I had worked up from my practice cooled on my bare skin. The soft scent of night was nice and the moon was high overhead, giving the air a peaceful feeling to it. We used to sit out on nights like these, just Rukia and me, after the rest of the younger boys had all gone to sleep, and talk. Sometimes we'd talked about nothing, sometimes we'd talked about our dreams for the future or what we thought life in the Academy would be like, sometimes we'd even tried to make out shapes from the stars (that one so totally did not look like a rabbit, anyone could see that it was a lion!). I missed those days. I often wished we could talk now the same way we had back then.

"Sound's like Rukon," she said with quiet solemnity.

Yeah, it did, it sounded exactly like Rukon.

"There's a lot o' times when I think they ain't so different," I said just as quietly.

That statement was followed by a long moment of silence.

"Hey Renji?" she asked after a a bit.

"Yeah?" I asked her, inwardly praying she wasn't about to ask me for some kind of human-world dating advice or something.

I think I'd sooner run myself through with my own sword.

"Have you ever gotten something you thought you really wanted, only to find out that it's not what you thought it'd be?"

"Yeah, and the paperwork and sheer _crap _that comes with it is a pain in the butt," I replied.

"Well, what did you do about it?" she asked next, sounding strangely hesitant. "Did you stick with it and hope it turned out better or did you leave it behind and look for something else?"

I stretched back, looking up at the half-noon in the sky and thought about how to answer that.

"With me, when I accepted the position as Vice-Captain, I sorta made a promise ta do my best fer the people under me," I said. "Sure I thought about sayin' ta hell with it all and findin' another position in another squad but in the end I guess I figure that even with all the hassles that comes with it, includin' yer brother, I think that at the end of the day I have somethin' that's worth it. But maybe that's because of how I decided to handle it."

"What's that mean?" she asked curiously.

"When I took up the position of Lieutenant, the squad was run pretty normal compared to other squads, that is, everyone ran around doing their own thing. They all just took their orders from the Seats and that was that. But I brought some of myself into the position with me, I figured that there were some areas that could use a little work, so I set things up to work at 'em. The thing I've got going is a little... what's the word?"

"Unconventional," Rukia informed me.

"Yeah, unconventional, but it seems to work pretty well. I get my exercise, they get theirs, everybody gets to work with everyone else, and we even have a little fun doing it. I've even noticed that the death-toll and injury toll seems to have dropped off."

I wasn't trying to brag, but I was actually kinda proud o' myself for the improvement.

"So you think that I shouldn't just be unhappy with it, but that I should try to change what I don't like about it," she said.

"Unless the things you don't like about it are the sorts of things in its _own_ nature that can't be changed," I qualified. "Then yer screwed."

"How do I know the difference?" she asked next.

"I dunno," I sighed. "Keep pokin' at it 'til ya figure it out?"

Rukia made a noise in her throat that suggested that last bit hadn't been very helpful but she appreciated my effort. My morbid curiosity almost prompted me to ask how things were going with her and Ichigo, but I wasn't the sort who went in for self mutilation, so instead I said

"Yer bro's hostin' some aristo- shindig tomorrow eh?"

"How did you know about that?" she asked curiously.

"He has me playin' paper-boy, so I'll be droppin' by tomorrow."

I squirmed around a bit, trying to find a cooler spot, since I'd managed to warm that one up. The dew flickered onto me, turning into droplets of silver across my stomach in the moonlight and i absently flicked them off and stretched out in a yawn. It was late and I should probably think about getting to bed soon.

"You really should put your shirt on, or you're going to catch a cold sitting out here on the ground in the middle of the night," she said suddenly.

Well _that _was an odd change of subject. Rukia rose suddenly to her feet, well, more like _shot _to them would've have been a more accurate description. Was it something I'd said? She started walking quickly away from me.

"Hey, Rukia, what's wrong?" I asked, trying not to betray my sudden half-panic that I might have somehow offended her.

She half-turned and looked back at me, her cheeks looked pink and she looked kinda flustered. Maybe she was more nervous about tomorrow than she wanted to admit?

"Er, it's nothing, I just have to go and... uh, be up early tomorrow. And I have a kimono and make up and jewelry and it'll last all day," she said with an odd, half-crazy note in her voice.

With the odd babble she had sort of sounded like Orihime Inoue for a minute there.

"Oh," I said, trying not to sound to sad that she was leaving so suddenly. "Well... I guess I'll see ya around then."

"Uh, sure," she said distractedly.

That didn't sound very promising. She looked back over at me again, oddly and her face got pinker. At least she didn't look angry. I sighed a little as I watched her walk back toward her home. It had been nice while it had lasted. It wasn't likely I'd get to see her tomorrow, she'd probably be busy with whatever was going on at the Kuchiki place all day and I'd just be nipping by to drop off paperwork, it wasn't like I was invited. This was a noble function and I was just Kuchiki's underling, there was still that _line _there.

:_Too much thinkin_': I chided myself before I could think myself right back into a state of inadequacy and depression.

I drank from the fountain and headed back to the barrack baths which would be empty by this time. After a quick wash-up and a change of clothes I went back to my office to get at least _part _of that paperwork waiting there for me done.

After about an hour of steady work, I'd managed to work my way through nearly all of it and I retired to bed feeling accomplished.

The thing about me and sleep... I was something of a night-owl by necessity more than by choice. I just didn't sleep well. I didn't suffer night terrors or anything definite that I could pin down as a cause for my lack of sleep. Growing up in Hangdog taught most kids who made it there to sleep like cats, with one ear cocked to the slightest noise that could signal a change in ones whereabouts that could mean a potential threat. A kid who let himself get snuck up on, even in sleep, didn't make it very long and _never _managed to keep what few meagre possessions he did have, including the clothes on his back. It might have simply been my upbringing, but I didn't think so. I just didn't sleep easily. I was always waking up at odd hours, restless, and walking around, often pacing. No real cause, it was just what worked.

That night I slept straight through without waking.

* * *

**Yay! A chapter with Rukia in it. Writing these two kids is so fun, I love how thier bond is always there, unspoken, in the background. Remember, reveiws are love.**


	13. Twelfth Night

The next morning I was up at dawn as usual, meeting my noobs out at the training field for their morning exercise. I'd have to assign them to an element soon, before the next batch of noobs from the Academy came in. I'd already sort of mentally sorted them out by their abilities I'd probably be meeting with the Seats over the next couple of days to see if they had any great objections to their assignments. The exercise went as well as it ever did and I was reasonably pleased. I showered off and went back to my office to finish the rest of the paperwork where I found Lieutenant Nemu Kurostuchi waiting for me.

"Good morning Lieutenant Abarai," she said with bland cheer.

She slid a small sheaf of printouts over the surface of my desk and said

"Your absence prevented me from informing you of my findings on that inquiry you made the other day, so I took the liberty of making a copy of my findings for you. It wasn't much, and a great deal of the data seems to have been lost to corruption of files that comes from keeping data lying around over time. There was an accidental purge of some areas of the system at the time of the development of the Bounts because the release of that large amount of power accidentally sent a surge through the circuits strong enough to override even the secured surge protectors."

"Huh... Ask ya somethin' else?" I mused aloud looking at the meagre pickings.

"Go ahead Lieutenant," she said agreeably.

"When you were lookin' through those files, did you happen to notice if anyone else had gone lookin' through 'em recently?"

"Yes Lieutenant, it was another anomaly that I ran across. The last recorded access was an unauthorized one. Someone attempted to access the information via a tertiary access panel off the hub of the mainframe, using a log-in name and password that clearly did not belong to him or her. Namely, my Captain's access codes."

"When was that?" I asked curiously.

It could have nothing to do with the case but my stray dog instincts scented something _off _about this one. It could be important.

"July seventeenth of last year," was her reply.

That was around the same time of Rukia's execution and the whole mess that came along with it. More to the point, it was about that same time that Aizen had accessed the information about the Ohken, the Key to the World of the Emperor of the Spirit Court from the databases inside Central Forty-Six. Could it be that the two were related? It seemed possible, maybe even a little likely. It probably _wasn't_ a coincidence, put it that way. Still my Captain didn't encourage idle speculation so I'd better be a little more certain of that particular theory before I started raising the specter of Aizen again and sending everyone off into a tizzy of speculation. People were high-strung enough as it was about his escaping without stirring them up even more. I pulled a pencil from among the messy piles on my desk and jotted down a quick note about the incident on the top page of the sheaf of papers Nemu Kurotsuchi had just given me so I wouldn't forget about it.

"Thanks Lieutenant Kurotsuchi, I really appreciate it," I said sincerely.

"It was my pleasure Lieutenant Abarai," she replied with perfect politeness and took herself off.

Her arrivals and departures had always been abrupt, and her personality was that of a woman who wasted no time on frivolities, part of me liked that a little since she always got right to the point, but the rest of me felt a little sad for her.

I finished going over the reports on my desk and updating the log book, then I walked the actual reports down to the Sixth Squad filing room and filed them in their proper places. The rest of the papers were the usual sort of things; this time it was weapons supply requisitions, and the duty roster for B-5 barracks. Annoying, but at least it was easily taken care of. The extra copies were filed in their respective drawers. I grabbed the sheaf of papers that required Kuchiki's signature and stuck them in a folder with a clip to keep them secure and, after taking a quick glance in the mirror to make sure that I was sorta presentable, I flashed off to the Kuchiki Estate.

The place was even more _massive _than I remembered. The outside wall on either side of the front gate seemed to stretch on forever. The supercilious butler still looked down his long, pointy nose at me. Geeze, he was a servant who worked for the boss same as I did, where the heck did he get off lookin' at me like I was somethin' the dog dragged in from outta the rain? Apparently Kuchiki had told him to expect me because he silently pointed me towards the service entrance around the side. How nice. Sure felt great knowing where I stood.

:_I'm a Lieutenant fer cryin' out loud an' I **still **get the servant's entrance,_: I grumbled to myself.

Sure, technically, men of my rank were actually counted among the nobility, but it was vanishingly likely that anyone would ever be bowin' ta me an' asking if I wanted refreshments. When it came down to it, nobility born and bred only looked to their own.

The servant who met me there was a pretty little filly though, so maybe the visit wasn't a complete waste after all. I flashed the smile that I used on the pretty nurses in Fourth when I wanted extra portions of food at her and she seemed to react about the same way they did; blushing and smiling and looking down.

"The Kuchiki runnin' ya ragged?" I asked sympathetically as she guided me to my meager little out-of-the way corner where I was probably going to be stuck cooling my heels until the Master of the Manse was un-busy enough to see me. In my peripheral vision I could see other servants in the House livery rushing this way and that, little maids with their sleeves tied back carrying buckets of water to be heated for washing, men hauling furniture and so on.

"Master Kuchiki has been planning this gathering for months, all of the heads of the cadet lines of the Kuchiki Clan are going to be here, as well as the Head of Moriyama Clan and a number of his guests. It's a _very _big event, and a very important one, and there are so many important guests attending, it's a lot of work to see them comfortable," she said. At first she'd started out shy then she'd warmed to her subject and looked a little fired up there.

"Well do your best then," I said smiling at her, and waving in parting. "I'll just stay here out of the way."

The little corner I'd been assigned to wasn't so bad really. It was a tiny courtyard out behind what I took to be some unused section of the manor, there was a small decorative koi pond and a stand of two plum trees which were just beginning to come into bloom, the buds were appearing but they hadn't yet flowered. Judging by the way people were rushing to and fro, and the fact that the guests were going to be arriving soon, if the Kuchiki didn't seek me out right away he probably wasn't going to remember to until well after dusk. I looked at the courtyard around me, it might be small and out of the way but it was no place to rough-house around practicing Zabimaru's new technique in. So I was probably going to be stuck here for most of the day with nothing to do.

:_Geeze, I should just drop them off in his private office and leave, I have better things to do_,: I thought in annoyance.

I knew better than that though, I didn't know where his office was, and even if I did I didn't want a lecture delivered to me in those aristocratic tones of his about Lieutenants who neglected their instructions. I sighed. I was stuck here.

:_I guess there's nothin' wrong with working while I wait_,: I thought to myself.

I had managed to unlock one chakra yesterday in my spare time, there was nothing wrong with giving the next one a go. After all, it wasn't like I had anything else to do at the moment.

I made myself comfortable in a lazy sprawl under one of the plum trees, with the I'd brought paperwork tucked under me, just in case. It would be just my luck that I'd drop inside my innerscape and the folder I'd brought with all of my work in it would get caught by a breeze and strew the paperwork around the yard and elsewhere. Kuchiki would either make me do it over or fetch it back, every single sheet. My bet would be the latter.

:_No point in curling up my legs under me again, no matter how ya look at it, I have no resemblance ta Buddha so there's no point in lookin' like some meditatin' preist_.:

Especially when I was so far from the priest-hood that the idea of myself trying to emulate one was enough to make a cat laugh. Yeah, Yoruichi for one would get a _kick _out of it.

I closed my eyes and shut out the world around me, focusing inward. One moment I was there, listening to the sound of the late morning wind whistle through the branches of the plum tree, the next moment I was back in the jungle with Zabimaru staring right back at me.

"So you've returned," the Baboon King said.

Snaketail curled up over his shoulder and they regarded me with a glowing-eyed stare.

"Yeah, I got some free time, so I figured sooner started is sooner done. No point in puttin' it off anyway," I replied.

"You should know what you will face in this challenge," the Baboon King said with a slow heavy dignity. "The second chakra is the Sacral Chakra, it is concerned with pleasure and one's sense of self worth; it is blocked by shame. When you accept the challenge to take on this chakra you will be faced with all of those things which you are secretly ashamed of. Do you still wish to take up the challenge?"

"Um, yeah, that's what I'm here for. Thanks for the heads up anyway," I said.

"Alright then, do yer best," the Snaketail said.

Just as suddenly as I had fallen into the trance that brought me into my inner world, I found myself somewhere else. It was a strange sort of place though. I was surrounded by a glowing mist that had tiny motes of shimmering rainbow-hued light that darted here and there like fireflies over a river. The mist itself was also oddly reflective, moving in shifting waves and billows, the light reflected myself back at me like a mirrored prism; as I moved about looking around, I saw mirror copies of myself moving towards me and around me like mirages, strangely smokey and insubstantial. I stood there for a few minutes waiting for the challenge to show up.

I wasn't kept waiting long. After a few minutes I could sense a presence behind me and turned around to meet... myself. This version of me was an older version compared to the last one, but still noticeably younger than my current age. He looked about ten or so, still clad in the rags of the Rukongai. He looked back at me and said.

"Boy are _you _ever in for it."

"Let's just get on with it," I grumbled.

"Just remember, you asked for it."

Snot-nosed little brat.

He gestured out into the mists and I found the prismatic fog thicken and close in on me. I found myself surrounded by sightless, greyish, prismatic light. Suddenly I found that the wraith-like reflections that had been myself suddenly became other people... _and _myself.

"Coward. Failure." A strange chorus of voices whispered and chanted around my head. It sounded like they were everywhere but I couldn't feel or sense anyone nearby. The voices seemed compounded of every voice of all the people I knew or had met, and my _own _voice.

"No matter how hard you try, you'll never be good enough," the voices continued.

Shouts and whispers and taunts along that vein started coming at me from all directions. My chest started to clench in desperation.

"Even if you rise to the top you'll still only be a nameless, homeless street cur from the Rukongai."

"Everything you do means nothing, you'll never be worthy of their regard."

"Second-rate, second best. You'll never be strong enough to hold your head up."

"You should just go back where you belong, no-one wants you around here. No-one needs you."

It wasn't true! I couldn't be true, those were all lies! I knew that if I trained hard enough, worked hard enough, for long enough I could become stronger, get better. I could be good enough. I could! I had to, didn't they see?

"I can!" I shouted back at them desperately as they taunted me with my inadequacies. "I'm good enough, I'll get good enough!"

"For what?" the boy asked. Suddenly, all was silence. "What's the standard? Who decides if you are and are not worthy?"

I paused, taken aback for a moment.

"Well, they do I guess?" I said shrugging.

I gestured around me at the open air. There were no people, no voices anymore, but it was meant as a general gesture to include all the world but me.

"And who is they and why is it that they are allowed to decide your own value?" my little self asked next. "Shouldn't that be up to _you _to decide?"

"It _is _up to me to decide!" I snapped. "I'm not some wishy-washy asshole who can't make up his mind and just goes along with what everyone else tells--"

Except that I _was_, I realized. Even though I had the red hair and the tatoos to stand out and let everyone know that I was different from them, I wasn't. I was still just a stray dog howling at the moon, without the courage to jump up and bite it. I was afraid of not being acceptable, of being too weak, too cowardly, not good enough or strong enough to protect what I valued.

There was a small, insidious little part of me that thought maybe they were all _right _about me. That I _wasn't_ good enough or strong enough. After all, instead of standing up and telling them all to fuck off when they'd ordered me to bring Rukia back to the Seireitei hadn't I just lowered my tail and fetched? If this had been anywhere but the Seireitei, and it had been anyone but my superiors asking me to hand Rukia off to punishment, they'd have had one hell of a fight on thier hands. But they were my superiors and I had obeyed. Why?

:_Was it because I want their approval_?: I wondered.

Could it really be something stupid like that? I didn't even _like _most of those assholes, and they made it plain they didn't give a rat's ass about me, so why the hell should I listen to 'em?

"That's a damn good question," the little runt muttered. "Just because they all got status and shit you let 'em dictate to you the kind of person you are, what _you _find acceptable."

It was an awful thing to have to face up to without any way to defend against it. All this time I thought I'd been perversely proud of my background, of how far I'd come, but I was really ashamed of myself. Deep down I believed that I wasn't worth time and attention and... and love. Inside I wasn't even a dog howling at the moon, I was a whipped pup begging for scraps. Pathetically, they could kick me and I'd keep coming back.

"That damn boss of yours disparages your intelligence an' skill on a daily basis an' you never say anything about it."

"He's my boss," I replied.

"Get another job."

"He's a Kuchiki," I added.

"Don't matter."

"He's Rukia's older brother."

"And he's going to give you respect points for taking his shit why?" the kid replied. "If anything, you'd loose respect for it."

I paused, the kid had a point.

"And as for the rest of them," the younger me continued. "Who in the hell do they think they are? What the hell do they know about you? They've never slept up under a leaky rain-shed in near freezing weather, or had to outwit people three times their size who would have beat them with a two by four until they couldn't move just to get enough to survive for a day. And yet you let those blind, stupid assholes tell you how yer gonna live yer life? Why don't you tell yourself, why don't you find _yourself _acceptable?"

I didn't have an answer to that, or at least I didn't have one that didn't make me sound like an ass. My younger self smirked up at me, knowing that I already knew the answer.

People didn't have any more power over you than you were willing to give them. That didn't mean you always had to put yourself first, far from it, but no-one had the right to tell me that I wasn't a worthy man.

:_I've never done anything that I'd really be **ashamed **to own up to in my life_,: I thought to myself.

At least, not up until recently, when I had turned Rukia over into the Sixth Squad brig. I had never stolen something unless I needed it to survive, and even then it was something that wouldn't have come from someone who couldn't spare it; I'd never stolen from another set of starving kids, or from women, even when I was desperate for food. There were other gangs of kids who had not been so noble as myself and my own. I had never murdered a man in cold blood because his life was inconvenient, all of the things I had killed had been neccessary kills. I had always repaied every debt I'd ever owed, even the ones that people might shrug off. I had never dishonored or taken advantage of a woman. So then why was I ashamed of myself, and where I came from? I had always sort of thought of myself as taking a perverse sort of pride in my commoner background. I sure as hell didn't want to be nobility! The only reason I'd been desperate to climb up the ranks was so I could reach a rank that might be considered equal to _hers_. The fact that, even _if _I made it all the way to Captain those nobles still probably wouldn't accpt me shouldn't rankle me so much, but it did. It was the same as saying that nothing I did mattered, that I couldn't hold my head up because I had a name that came from the Rukongai.

I realized suddenly that part of my irritation stemmed from sorrow or maybe even a little envy. I sure as hell didn't want to be nobility like Rukia was, but at the same time I wanted to be part of a family again, to have a place where I could truly say "_here _is where I belong," someplace and someone I could protect without having to worry that they would throw me over or betray me. The closest thing I had, the closest thing I had _ever _had, were my friends. The nearest thing I had to a center in my world was _her_.

So why did I keep looking everywhere else but myself for approval? Why did I give them the power to decide if I was and wasn't worth a second glance? So what if I came from the streets? So what if no family would claim me? I sent a little over a quarter of my Lieutenant's salary every pay period over to the onee-sans at the Barai House to help them feed the newborn kids so they wouldn't have to send 'em out early to make room for another tiny mouth to feed. I would bet all the rest of my salary that most of those nobles on those grand estates didn't even give them a thought. So who in the end was more worthy, them or me? Who had been through more, fought harder? Why should they have the power to decide my value?

They didn't and that was that. The only one who had felt ashamed and inadequate was me and it was all in my own head. I didn't _have _to let them look down on me, I wasn't going to _allow_ them to look down on me. Not anymore.

I was a good and worthy man who had worked hard for everything I'd ever gotten in this life, and even if my status was one day taken from me, I had my pride and... dignity. It was a little weird thinking of myself as having dignity, but I had as much a right to it, and more, than a lot of those assholes who called themselves nobles. I was a worthy man and no-one else had the right to tell me otherwise unless I had done something that crossed the line for all the wrong reasons.

"Now that you realize it, what do you need to do?" the kid asked of me.

"I dunno," I said, frustrated.

How in the hell was I supposed to know?

"Thoughts and words don't mean nuthin' unless ya _speak _up and _live _up," the kid replied.

I nodded approval of it. There was a pause.

"Well go on," he said. "Say it."

I cleared my throat into the empty silence, feeling oddly self-conscious. Maybe it was vulnerability.

"I... um. I'm Renji Abarai from Hangdog, and even though I've lived the kinda life that would probably make most people into hardened criminals I don't think that there's anything I've done that I truly need to feel ashamed of... except blindly following orders. As a man I..." I paused and went on.

This wasn't easy. Anyone who thought this chakra unbinding stuff was simple had never taken a really good, long look at themselves.

"As a man I'm responsible for my own actions. It's my own choices that determine whether or not I'm a worthy man, not some outside system or other peoples opinions. That don't mean I'll just blow people off, but that also don't mean that I'm going to let fear of disapproval, or loss of face or status, or even rejection, stop me from doing what I know is right."

I suddenly felt myself surrounded by a strangely warm feeling that made me seem instantly lighter and freer somehow, like I was no longer held back by a weight I hadn't even realized was there. All around me was an orange-gold glow, like the copper-disk of the sun as it was just coming up over the horizon. Between one heartbeat and the next I found myself back in the clearing with the side-ways tree and the fountain and Zabimaru. There was a copper key in my hand that I automatically inserted in the lock at the bottom of the basin and turned. Again, as it had the first time, the sluice gate opened and softly glowing liquid energy in a vital orange color welled up from the opening and started to flow in a circle around the bottom of the basin.

"Well lookit that," I said in satisfaction.

The strange water felt _good _to me for some reason. I felt oddly stronger, more sure of myself, like a part of myself that had been separated and disjointed was brought back into its proper place again. Maybe all o' this meditation stuff wasn't so stupid after all. I'd never really believed that concentrating my focus inward would ever make me a stronger fighter, I'd always figured that what made a guy strong in battle is what he brought to the feild in his arms, but maybe I'd been mistaken. It wouldn't be the first time certainly.

"It's very surprising," Baboon King remarked from his lounging position in his tree. "How you've managed to face what is in yourself, accept it, and resolve to address those things you don't like in such a very short amount of time. Some people meditate for lifetimes and still lie to themselves, or fool themselves into not acknowledging their own shortcomings. But I suppose that's just the sort of person you are Renji Abarai, you're so straightforward that, when confronted with something you can't deny, see no point in trying to do so."

Well duh, what would be the point exactly?

"You have done well today and I am quite satisfied with your progress. It is time that you returned to yourself, before Rukia calls in the Fourth Division and has you examined."

And just like that I was on my back staring up at the branches of the budding plum tree and the irritated and fearful face of Rukia Kuchiki. I couldn't help that I smiled up at her, she just had that effect on me. I hadn't seen her in a while and as always, even just looking at her face had the power to make my world a better place.

* * *

**Might seem a strange place to end it, but I had to separate the part where Renji spends time with Zabimaru working on himself and the chapter with Rukia in it. Speaking of, all next chapter is all Renji and Rukia, yay! I see we have a few new faces this last round *taps fingertips together ala Mister Burns* Excellent... luring them in one reluctant reviewer at a time. ^_^ As always I want to thank the loyal reviewers who have been following me from the start and reviewing every chapter, I always look forward to your reactions of what happens. I makes me even anticipate, even more, the chapters I'm going to post later on when the action really starts cooking. I promise I won't forget you all, even when I get a PS3 and Final Fantasy XIII. ;D I hope you enjoyed and I look forward to Thursday, in the meantime... please leave a contribution in the little box.**


	14. Thirteenth Warrior

"Oh hey Rukia," I said.

My voice came out sounding raspy because I hadn't had anything to drink in a while. While I was under it seemed that the sun had gone from an early morning slant to a mid-afternoon point high overhead. I looked over to see Rukia sitting near me under the other plum tree. The branches of the two trees had grown out and spread far enough to entangle with each other, and their roots had both grown together too. She lay cradled in the gaps between the roots of the trees at the base of the trunk. She looked upset, and beautiful.

She was dressed formally in a very intricately embroidered silk kimono of a pale bluish-purpley color with white and pink blossoms flowing in the breeze embroidered on it. Her obi was a contrasting but harmonious dark blue wrapped around her waist and tied in a butterfly knot around the back. She wore a matching hair ornament in her hair and carried a silk bag around one wrist. Her face was delicately powdered with white rice powder and her lips reddened with rouge so that she more closely resembled a delicate little doll than my rough, tough, tear-away best friend who threatened to beat me up when I'd done something particularly stupid. I tried not to gape like a landed fish, I really did, but I don't know if I succeeded very well.

Was she crying? She looked distressed, and an upset Rukia had no place in my world, not while _I _was here. I sat up, ignoring the stiffness in my limbs and crawled over to sit down next to her. Her head was down and forward, trying to hide her unhappy expression and preserve her pride. I knew her better than that. Women tended to talk about things, and Rukia didn't really have any girlfriends (besides, I knew that if she did have someone to talk about important things with I'd only feel jealous about it... And I did.) But I was here now, and I could fall back into the place where I belonged, at her side, helping her. I could be that close to her at least.

I knew women often saw the world different from men, they went at everything sideways, making everything more complicated than they had to be, but even so, there had to be something I could do. I had all the subtlety of a baseball bat to a window, but there were time when a certain amount of bluntness was called for, besides, I couldn't think of any clever openers, so I just stepped right in it.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

Her reaction was to stiffen and try to pull herself back together.

"There's nothing wrong with me," she said, but the tightness in her voice betrayed her.

"I didn't say that," I grumbled.

As usual, it seemed I'd screwed it up somewhere. Sheesh, and women claimed that _men _had fragile egos, she didn't have to get all defensive an' shit. I was tryin' ta help!

"I asked what's wrong, I wasn't sayin' there's somethin' wrong with _you_," I clarified. "Do you need me to go and beat the shit outta someone for ya? 'Cause I will, just say the word."

It'd be my pleasure. Hopefully she'd say that brat she was dating in the mortal world had an ass beating coming to him.

"You'd only make things _worse_," she said, a note of scorn in her voice. "It's not the sort of problem that you can beat down with a sword dummy."

"So you admit that there's a problem," I said, having caught her out.

I _tried _to keep the triumph from my voice but apparently didn't succeed very well, for she looked sharply over at me. Even when she was angry, she made my heart skip a beat.

"C'mon Rukia," I said, my tone conciliatory with her. "How long we been together? I _know _you. If there's something wrong, I want you to be able to tell me."

I couldn't really claim we didn't keep stuff from each other, after all, I'd been keeping a real doozy from her for a lot of years in the fact that I was _deeply _in love with her. Still, our relationship had always been one of openness and honesty. Because the world we'd lived in had been full of lies, we'd always tried to be honest with each other, to be there for each other and help each other. I was relying on that openness to get her to tell me why she was upset.

"It's stupid," she muttered.

I caught that she was afraid I'd laugh at her. She could be unwittingly amusing, but I wouldn't want to hurt her feelings.

"I won't laugh," I promised. "Whatever it is, you can tell me."

"Well..." she hesitated and looked up at me, and apparently, whether it was habit or a desire to tell someone what was on her mind she told me why she was hiding out here in this courtyard with me.

"It's a meeting of all the lateral lines of the Kuchiki Clan and everyone's looking at me... _funny_," she finished unhappily. "I've been part of this family for almost half a century and they all still look at me like I'm something the cat dragged in out of the rain!"

I had to restrain myself from reaching for Zabimaru and laying on the smackdown to a bunch of noble assholes for treating my Rukia badly.

"And the Matriarch..." she said, her expression turned even more distressed. "She all but said that I was better suited to a position as a servant, that I was too weak and pathetic to attain any rank, that I should never have been brought into the house and that I had only brought shame to the Kuchiki name."

That was it, the old bitch was a dead woman.

"The worst part about all of it was that everyone except Elder Brother seemed to agree with her. The fact that I'd been locked in the tower and nearly executed has been held up as a fine example of why outsiders should never be brought into the Kuchiki House."

"You were arrested and tried because you were trying to do your job," I tried to comfort her. "That's not exactly a terrible crime y'know. Besides, you're part of the family, whether they like it or not. If they want to hang around like dried out old sticks, they forget the important fact that dried out old sticks snap under pressure."

She looked up at me like I'd lost my mind, so I tried again.

"What I mean to say is that they cling so damn hard to stupid traditions that they won't pull their heads out of their asses, take a good look around, and realize that the world they think never changes is _already _different."

I could point out a whole bunch of things, the Seireitei had been betrayed, there was no longer a Council of the Forty-Six, there was a substitute Soul Reaper running around as a mortal, there were more common-born Reapers in positions of authority in the Seireitei than there had _ever _been before, a group called the vizards were active, there were more Espada than there had _ever _been before and they were all _organized _now... the list just went on and on.

"Besides, why the heck do you care what they think anyway?" I asked next.

"They _are _my family," she pointed out.

"So what? It doesn't mean they know you. If they were any kind of family, they'd be rallying behind you. There's a kinda strength a person c'n get from followin' all th' rules, but it takes 'nother kinda strength ya get from following your _own _path and doing what _you _feel is right. Guess which one takes more courage?" I demanded firmly.

Rukia stared at me, wide eyed.

"But... Renji," her voice was barely above a whisper and she looked genuinely afraid. "What if they're _right_?"

I stared at her, dumb with shock. She was kidding, right?

"What if I'm really not good enough?" she continued. "What if they're right, and I really don't belong as a Kuchiki? They're right in that I don't even have a low-ranked Seated position, I completely screwed up my very first mission in the mortal world... I've nearly been executed for heavens sake!"

I held up a hand to slow her down.

"You're only looking at the surface of things and so are they. If you only look at the things you've done and not at all the stuff going on behind it then of _course _it's gonna look bad. You gave yer power to a mortal and broke the rules, but without yer intervention that Hollow woulda killed his family. As fer yer execution, you an' I both know there was a lot more going on with that; Aizen wanted the Hougyoku and he had to kill you to get it, so you shouldn't feel bad about being a victim o' that rat bastard's manipulations."

"I...guess," she said slowly and with great reluctance.

This was gonna take a little more, because I could already tell by her tone and expression that she didn't really believe me. I leaned in closer and draped an arm around her and pulled her up against my side, this wasn't just because I wanted to hold her, this was because she needed the comfort and support of a good friend, even when she was too proud to say so.

"Rukia," I said seriously. "Yer lettin' them get to ya and ya don' need to. Sure they're yer family, and o' _course _they're gonna matter to ya. O' course yer gonna want their good opinion of ya. But their opinion isn't the only one that matters, it's not even the one that's the most important..."

"Then whose is?" she asked.

I couldn't help but feel happy about the way, after some initial surprised stiffening, Rukia relaxed against me and fitted her tiny form into the hollow created by mine to fit her. I wasn't arrogant enough to think I was sheltering her or anything, but I allowed myself the small vanity of thinking that maybe she drew comfort from my strength.

"It's yours," I said simply, imparting to her the lesson that had so recently been hard-won for me.

I loved her, and I'd share with her all that I was and all that I had, unstintingly, if she'd let me.

"Ya don't got nuthin' ta be ashamed of," I said firmly. "You followed the path that yer heart told you was right."

"But they," she protested immediately.

"Don't worry about what they think of you," I said fiercely. "Sure they're yer family now but they don't own your soul. You've been Rukia fer a whole hell of a lot longer than this Rukia Kuchiki has existed, an' the Rukia I know don't take no shit offa nobody. Straighten yer spine woman! Ya gonna let 'em push ya around, tell ya what's right an' what's wrong, or are ya gonna go out there and live, believin' in yer own possibilities?"

She pulled away and looked at me, somewhat surprised.

"Renji--" she said.

I cocked my head up at her, giving her my best confident smirk.

"Don't let anyone, not them," I gestured back to the main house. "Not even me, determine what your worth is. Only you can do that."

She just stared at me wide-eyed, like I was suddenly speaking in a foreign tongue or something.

"But it just seems like... no matter what I do or how hard I try, it's never enough. It always feels like I'm a failure," she said, distressed.

I gotta admit I was a little surprised to hear some of my own hang-ups comin' from her mouth. Still, what kind of a friend was I, what kind of a _man _was I if I didn't try to help her out?

"Well," I said, rubbing the back of my neck while I tried to think of what to say.

"Y'know, yer _gonna _fail. That's just the way life is. Just because you don't get things right away doesn't mean that you're not a good person, or that yer not worth nuthin' it just means ya gotta pick yerself up an' keep workin' at it, that's all."

"But..." she said sadly. "I'm not like _you_. I've never accomplished anything on my own. It feels like I got my position because Elder Brother interceded on my behalf when he adopted me. I don't have any rank, I'm not assigned field missions as much as the other Soul Reapers, even the new ones until recently..."

I quirked my mouth to one side. She had a good point. As a Soul Reaper she wasn't as experienced as some I knew that were only half her age, that, added to the fiasco that her first chance to get out and get some real experience had turned into probably ate away at her confidence as surely as I was guessing the Kuchiki Families continued alienation did. I thought about what I could say that might convince her that she had it in her to move past her failures and mess-up and keep trying. My mind turned back to a memory and I abruptly brightened.

"Hey, remember that time you came across that birds nest that one year in Rukongai?" I said, sort of abruptly.

"Yeah," she giggled. "I also remember that one little barbarian wanted to eat those poor baby birds, and I had to rescue them from your stewpot Renji."

"Well yeah, I still think they'd have tasted _great_," I said unapologetically. "Anyway, you remember what happened the first time their mama bird had ta push 'em outta the nest?"

"They fell," she replied.

We'd both been there the day it had happened, I remembered that she'd held tightly to my hand in excitement as she'd cheered for the babies to get up and fly. They'd been a lumpy mess of fluff and partly fledged wings, fluttering and hopping around, trying to get airborne. It had been comical in a cute sort of way.

"If they'd given up the first time they went tumbling from the nest, would those birds have ever flown?" I asked her, trying not to feel like a terrible _sap _the moment I let the words exit my mouth. This was _so far_ from bein' cool and manly that it was ri-frickin'-diculous, but it was for Rukia so it was okay. Even a manly man like me couldn't expect to keep all his cool points around Love.

"I guess not," she said mildly.

"No-one who's lived the kinda life we have can ever really say that they've been _sheltered _from anything, but as a Soul Reaper and a Warrior there are some feathers that you just haven't have the time or experience to grow in yet, that's all."

"Do you think my wings will ever grow in?" she asked wistfully.

"Yeah," I replied seriously, bending down to rest my chin on the top of her head. I added softly

"An' when they do, you'll own the skies."

We sat like that for a while, I didn't want to move because... I _liked _being close to her. I always had, and I'd missed it. Who knew how many more chances I would ever get in the future to be like this with her, just her and me and our bond together. Maybe I was cheating, but hey, I was a Rukon thrief, we all knew how to get while the gettin' was good.

"It's strange," she said quietly, breaking the silence after a while. "The way this family works."

"What's that?" I asked.

"Well in some ways it seems like they can't wait to see the last of me, but in other ways it feels like they want to keep me here. I can't figure it out. On one hand, every time I have to speak with the rest of the family, it always feels a little bit like they look at me like I'm a stray cat that Brother let in to their nice clean house on a whim and they aren't sure if I have fleas or not."

I'd wanted a lot better for her than _that _when I'd given her up to let her go become a noblewoman.

"But on the other hand' she continued. "I know they're exerting their noble influence to keep me from advancement and out of danger, I don't know if they're doing it out of concern for me, or if they're just afraid I'll make an even bigger mistake than the _first _time I went on a field assignment in the mortal realm. I think they're afraid I'll embarrass them."

"Hn," I grunted under my breath. "I thought family was all about bein' supportive an' shit, even if yer family member is a little bit odd."

"I'm not odd!" she huffed.

"I didn't odd-weird or stupid, I meant odd, like kinda "square peg in a round hole" odd," I replied. "I'm just sayin that, in my opinion, if ya gotta worry so much about them havin' a bad opinion of ya that it preoccupies ya when ya go ta battle or hangs like a shadow over yer work, then there's somethin' wrong with that. Back in Hangdog, even if we were a family based on necessity, neither me or any o' the other guys woulda dared ta tell ya what ya can and can't be."

You couldn't _be _a whole lot in that place, Renji," she pointed out.

"That's not the point," I said irritatedly. "I'm tryin' ta tell ya that, even if they're family or even nobles, there certain things they are and are not allowed to do, certain boundaries that it's not their place to cross. They might think they have the right to put a younger family member in her place or manipulate her life for their own ends, but I firmly believe that they don't now and never will have the right to tell Rukia what she can and cannot be. It ain't their place, or anybodies, to determine Rukia's worth."

She looked dubiously at me, like she wasn't sure if I was right.

"Maybe I'm talkin' outta my ass, I mean, what the hell would I know about it?" I muttered. "No-one's ever wanted me ta be part o' their family so what the hell would I know? But speakin' as a dog outside the fence, I c'n tell ya what I see. It seems ta me that ya got two choices, ya c'n keep obeying them and trying to gain their approval by followin' all o' their rules... and that's not necessarily _wrong_, though it does kinda smack of you being a dog trained to perform tricks. Or, you c'n stand up on yer own, tell e'm what you think and feel and let them just _deal _with it, an' live yer life accordin' to yer own rules. Yer tryin' ta do both right now, it looks like, an' it doesn't seem ta be workin' so well for ya."

There was a long silence as she seemed to consider what I was saying. Finally she asked

"So what should I do?"

I wanted so badly just to tell her ta say screw 'em all fer bein' a buncha prats, come back over to my side and be with me (or whoever) instead! But that would be _wrong _somehow, I couldn't place my finger on how exactly, just that it would be. So I did the hard thing and said

"That's sumthin' ya gotta figure out fer yerself."

"Well that's no help," she grumbled.

"You sayin' you want me makin' all yer choices for ya?" I replied with in an unpurterbed tone... then I decided to go for the dig just to ruffle her feathers a bit.

"I thought that was what your dear Elder Brother was for."

Rukia gasped at me in offense.

"Hey!" she snapped. "You take that back!"

"I call 'em like I see 'em," I replied grinning over at her in a challenge. She caught the gleam in my eye, able to read me as easily as she ever had, and whacked me on the shoulder with the little bag on her wrist. I don;t know what she kept in that thing, rocks maybe, but her little swing hurt a bit. She pulled back for another move and I held my hands up in surrender.

"Okay, okay! I give! I give!" I said, smiling at her. It was part of the game we played between the two of us, it was ours and I couldn't help the happy feeling that expanded in my chest at the old familiarity between us. Maybe I couldn't get all I wanted, but at least this much was mine.

"You don't look sorry enough to me," Rukia said, rising up.

As usual, she was not content with unconditional surrender but she had to have total domination in her victory. She climbed over my back with one arm around my neck and rubbed her knuckles into my hair. I could easily detach her and turn the tables around if I'd wanted to, but Rukia's pride had always been a fragile thing and it was just easier to let her have what she wanted now rather than risk her taking a more subtle (and far more humiliating) revenge later.

"watch the hair!" I said, after a long moment, deciding that she'd had enough fun.

"So you surrender then?" she demanded.

I looked up at the branches above me, just coming into blossom, and came up with an idea. I recalled something that I'd read in a book somewhere, and smiling, said

"Well, according to the old code of chivalry, for your valiant defeat of me in battle I would owe you my mount, my shield, and my armor; but since I have no mount but my own feet--"

"You can keep those."

"No shield but my virtue--"

"What virtue?"

"And no armor but my wits--"

"Don't burden me with you non-existant wits, I'd be forever at a disadvantage," Rukia replied, eyes shining in amusement.

I reached up and plucked a sprig of plum-blossoms from the tree, knowing full-well that she couldn't reach them on her own.

"You'll have to make do with this," I said bowing down to her in a courtly manner. I smiled at her over the top of the blossoms and she smiled back. I chose to ignore the fact that my heart was doing that pounding thing again. It was stupid, but I _lived _to make her happy.

But I couldn't leave it at that and decided that she deserved just one more little reminder of the difference between us.

"A prize plucked from heights that you can't climb, brought to you by yours truly."

She caught the dig and scowled at me, even as she looked delighted by the present. I wanted to keep things lighthearted and carefree between the two of us, even though it was hard being only her best friend when I wanted so much more, I didn't want to give up the little place in her heart that I had staked out as my very own. I wanted to be the one she went to when the world just didn't make sense, I wanted to be the one she talked with and laughed with, the one who could cheer her up. So, I could stuff down those feelings and play the fool if that was what it took, Ancestors knew that I'd had plenty of practice at it.

"And would her ladyship like anything else of her lowly and unworthy servant today?" I asked, keeping my tone deliberately light and slightly mocking as I said in an overly courtly tone. "Shall I take over China for you so that you may have silk fresh off the worm? Or fresh pearls from the bottom of the ocean perhaps? Shall I fetch for you a jewel from the sands of the moon? Or a--"

"Okay, sheesh! Idiot!" she said, laughing.

I grinned back at her, happy that she was happy. Maybe the contentment that I felt inside of me when I made her smile and laugh was a pathetic sort of contement, but dammit, it was all mine.

* * *

**Sorry about the lateness of the update. The ending of this thing was different in the original, but I felt that it would drag on too long so I snipped it out and put it in the next chapter. I meant to update yesterday but I found a whole treasure trove of un-read Renkia fics and that's what I did instead of posting this chapter. I'm sure you guys will forgive me. It's Renkia!**


	15. Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow

"You worried me half to sickness and I already have enough to worry about without you adding onto it!" She snapped at me. "I come to collect your papers for Elder Brother and find you lying around sleeping like the lazy little monkey you are but you don't move when I call your name and when I move to kick you awake as you so richly deserve I'm stopped by some barrier sheild! What's going on Renji?"

That sharp look in her eye told me she'd have it out of me one way or another and that if I didn't tell her and be right quick about it she was going to resort to violence. Fortunately I had a way out of it, at least for today.

"Careful now, Princess," I said, grinning up at her. "You wouldn't want to ruin your fancy clothes now would you? And all that make-up you're wearing probably took hours."

It was funny to see such a tiny woman who looked like a porcelain doll give me a look that could have felled pigeons in midair.

"Don't think you're getting out of this Renji," she replied, pointing an admonishing finger at me like any virago setting her poor hen-pecked husband up for a good scold. The image just made me smile harder.

"Yes ma'am," I said easily. The sounds of what passed for a party under the standards of the nobility trickled over to us on the breeze, the dull buzzing hum of polite chatter underpined by the pleasant drone of background instruments.

"Brother couldn't come himself, so he sent me to get those," Rukia said after a long pause, holding her hand out for the folder I had tucked underneath me.

"Figures," I muttered, handing them over and trying not to feel like a truant kid or something.

"Here ya go. Can I leave now? I've been cooling my heels here all afternoon and I have other things I could be doing right now."

"Why don't you come to the party?" Rukia asked, and looked just as surprised as I felt as soon as the words left her mouth.

I picked up the nuances real quick though, she hadn't actually _meant _to invite me, she'd just done it by reflex, and now she was worried that her inviting an unexpected guest would cause her brother to scold her. Naturally I didn't want her upset so I quickly reassured her.

"Nah, this little soiree of yours is just a little too high-class fer me. Gimme a bottomless sake jug and a nip down to the Twentieth District watering hole anyday o' the week. Fer one, the music's a sight better than _this_, this'll put you to sleep."

"You still go outside the walls?" Rukia asked, looking up at me in surprise.

"Sure I do," I said. I wasn't surprised that she didn't though, it was nothing against Rukia but the rarified sphere's she moved in now were higher above our shared roots than the moon was above the world.

Maybe that's what I'd do right now. I'd been stopped from my little party the other night and I didn't have much in the way of duties right then except to investigate that one matter I was looking into. Kill two birds with one stone maybe.

:_Now that I think on it, I'm due to visit Amber Onee-san's pretty soon too, we just got paid recently and they're probably running short on funds by now. If there's a rumor in the whole Rukon District that that woman hasn't heard of, it's not worth knowing_.:

Amber, the Madam of all the Onee-san's at the Barai House, was one of the most powerful shadow-rulers of the South Sector. She quietly ruled her streets with a steel fist in an elegant silk glove. She had a small army of loyal men she'd raised and trained in-house to act as guardians and an even larger army of kids that would spy and steal and raise hell for her. All the kids at Barai House had their loyalties towards Amber, even me to an extent, though not so much now as then. If Amber snapped her fingers in Hangdog, things were done... quietly, and likely without any witnesses. No-one would be better informed than she would about the recent incursions by an unknown specter on her turf and I mentally slapped my forehead for not thinking of going to her first!

:_Problem is that visiting my Onee-san can be a double edged sword_,: I thought to myself in wry amusement.

I might get some of the information that I was looking for, but she would know that I and my superiors were interested, and she'd make us pay for everything else we got. Plus... she still ruffled my hair and called me "her Little Orangey!" I'd _die _before I ever let anyone, even Rukia, find out just how I had gotten my name. Back when I'd been a baby my hair had been lighter in color before it settled into its current crimson. In fact, it had actually been closer in color to The Brat's hair color, and the onee-san's had nicknamed me "little orangey. Years later, when my hair was at last no longer orange, the name became "Renji."

"You look like you just got an idea," Rukia said with a note of curiosity in her voice.

"New lead," I said evasively.

It was hard for me to look at her right then. She was _everything _to me, everything I'd ever wanted, and she belonged to someone else. She looked even more beautiful than she usually did to me and there was nothing I could do. The pain of loosing her was hard and fresh but at the same time I desperately didn't want there to develop a distance between us again. I couldn't stand not having her in my life again but at the same time it was still hard for me to be around her. So I did the only thing I could do, I smiled that overly-bright lying smile I did when I wanted to mislead someone into thinking everything was okay, put a brotherly-type hand on her head and very condescendingly I said

"Little Princesses should run along back to their castles before their dragons come looking for them."

It worked exactly as I knew it would, she bristled at my condescending tone and glared at me. One thing I could say about being best friends for so long,i knew how to ruffle her feathers faster than anyone else. Rukia's buttons had always been easy to push and she'd always responded so beautifully too. It ha always been a little fun to rile her up, see how close I could get to exploding without going over the line. As ever, she responded just as I knew she would; Rukia snatched the papers out of my grasp, and, nose in the air with every shred of noble dignity pulled about her, she said

"Unlike _some _people who laze about napping under trees all day, _I _have important matters to attend to."

"Don't let me keep you, go riiight ahead," I said waving her off like she was a pest.

She glared at me harder while I added

"Although, I gotta say, it's pretty rude of you both to drag me here through the servants gate like I might steal your best cutlery, then set me down in some back-end corner and not even offer ta feed me. Nobility is as nobility does after all."

She made a little hmph-ing noise if disbelief and indignation.

"That's alright, I'll just go eat of my crusts in woeful solitude. Don't mind me. Really."

I gave her my best patheticly pleading look. She looked flatly back at me and said

"Don't give me that face, mister. I'm immune. I grew up around you remember, you're far from starving anymore."

Maybe it was just my wishful thinking but there seemed to be a very soft, nostalgic look that flickered over her expression for a moment there. If she started bringing up everything we'd always meant to each other it'd only end up giving me unrealistic hope so I decided that it was time to head things off before she could wax nostalgic. I smiled that bright lying-Lieutenant smile again and poked her in her midriff, teasing

"And you're in danger of popping out of your kimono Princess."

"Wh-" she gasped, stuttering in indignation, with her face puffing into an offended expression.

"My advice to you is to go easy on the cream-puffs, or you're gonna puff."

I was only saying all of these things one, to provoke her to distraction she she wouldn't be able to read me like she usually could. And two, I knew I could get away with it, so I couldn't resist the temptation. It was so cute when she got all mad at me, she was really pretty when she was angry, so lively and cute, and it was so _easy _to get her that way. Despite all that noble Kuchiki training, my girl still had a short fuse.

"Are you accusing me of getting fat?" she exploded at me.

Her cheeks were showing pink even through the rice powder.

"I would _never_," I protested innoscence, laying a hand against my chest in false injury.

"At least you have some sense of self-preservation left," she growled. "Though how much when you're going out of your way to be as obnoxious as possible in as short a time as possible is anyone's guess. Probably better you're not coming to the party anyway, you'd be sure to offend someone and Brother and I would be _months _afterward trying to repair the damage. Go slither back under your rock."

"Ouch," I muttered.

If she couldn't beat me senseless she was not above vivisecting me with the rough side of her tongue. I smiled over at her to cover up how much the jab had actually hit. Hers was about the only opinion that really mattered to me, and even though the chakra I'd just unsealed had dealt with that sort of thing it was early times yet. Seeing her momentary expression of contrition as she realized she might have been a little too harsh was enough for me, besides, i had brought it on myself after all so I smiled at her again and patted her shoulder, rising to leave.

"You uh, have fun at the party if that's even at all possible," I said to her, letting my tone say exactly what I thought on the matter which was that it wasn't at all likely. "I've got something to look in to."

"Is it that thing in Rukongai?" Rukia asked next, tugging at my sleeve to keep me there for a minute.

I blinked at her, a little surprised she knew about it seeing as I hadn't really mentioned it much and she looked at me and said

"My brother is your Captain dummy, and on occasion we do talk to each other. It came up last night over dinner."

"Oh," was all I said, a little surprised that they'd be discussing _me _of all things. Then again, maybe I shouldn't be so surprised, unless you counted Rukia's dead sister Hisana, I was one of the only things those two really had in common.

Um... Brother's going to be busy for the next while, you know how it is when the Kuchiki Clan has an in-gathering, people everywhere and you're always tripping over somebody. I wish they'd assign me out for these things, this place is big enough to be a museum and it still feels packed to the rafters with everybody and their servants crammed in here. I'll tell you what, since Brother will be busy tonight, no-one'll really notice if I'm gone for a few hours. I'll meet up with you later when things are settled down and you can tell me about what you found."

I smiled a little at the offer as she added

"I'll even sneak out some of the good taiyaki they're serving here. I know you think mostly with your stomach, and even _your _iron constitution might have problems if you tried to eat the stuff they serve down there."

"Sound's great!" I said, surprised and happy, even as I suppressed the automatic flip-flop my stomach did at the prospect of some time alone with her.

"Well then, you'd better get going before someone see's you, mistakes you for a servant, and dragoon's you into service," Rukia teased.

I tapped her lightly on the nose for it and said

"Since I'm dismissed I guess I'll go find some new grey hairs to put on yer brother's head. Later, Short-stuff."

I grinned back at her as I headed out of the courtyard in the direction that the servant had shown me earlier that morning.

"Don't call me short stuff!" she called after me.

I could just feel her making faces at my back and it made me smile as I glanced back at her on my way out. We shared a lingering, wordless speaking-look that was weighted with our shared history that only Rukia and I had ever managed to do. I might not have everything, but at least this much was mine. I loved her and maybe there was no changing that, but if it would burden her or hurt her to know about it then I'd make sure she'd never know. Still, at least my bond with her was still there, it was frayed and worn but it was ours and that was what mattered.

Rukia smiled at me as she waved and left to go back to the party thrown by her new family and I exchanged another smile with her and went back to my own duties, looking forward to the time later on when I could (hopefully) see her again. I was on my way out of the massive, sprawling Kuchiki labyrinth (seriously, I'd bet he keeps a minotaur somewhere in the middle of this place!) when I was stopped on the way.

"Lieutenant," a familiar voice carried softly over to me as I was on my way out, freezing me in my tracks.

I turned and walked in the direction of the source, not needing to be told by now that I was being summoned. Byakuya Kuchiki never shouted, he never even raised his voice, but he was the type of guy that never needed to either. He had a presence that demanded attention even though he was the quiet sort, and when he wanted to get someone's attention he didn't shout and yet his voice somehow managed to carry. I sorta wished I knew how he managed the trick.

"Sir? I questioned, a bit confused because I thought he'd been so busy with the party and all that he'd sent Rukia to collect his papers for him.

"You seem to be in a hurry," he noted.

He was also one of those types that was so adept at the subtle arts that he didn't usually make a habit of coming out and saying what was up, he'd bring up a subject and let me yammer on about it until he tired of listening to me talk. It was very frustrating. I'd gotten to the point where I sometimes said as little as possible just to get a rise out of him. He still always came out of the verbal fencing matches the winner of course, but he had a hundred or so years on me and noble training as well. I didn't feel like hanging aroud yapping with my boss all day so I got right to the point.

"I'm thinkin' about goin' out and lookin' into that matter in the Rukon District I told you about," I said frankly. "I still have a lot of useful contacts out there and I think I'll be able to find out even more useful information."

I looked over at him to gauge his reaction, as usual, his face gave nothing away so, since in his case it was better to be certain, I tried a tentative

"That alright with you, Captain?"

"You maintain contacts with the outside?" he questioned.

I couldn't tell what he was thinking (as usual), his tone didn't sound overtly disapproving and wasn't sure if the Captain was capable of feeling surprised (which is sorta what he sounded like right then), so I said

"Yeah, I give a chunk o' my paycheck to Barai House." I shrugged, not willing to make a big deal out of it and added

"That's why I'm Renji Abarai, because I came from Barai House, making me another Barai brat."

He cocked his head slightly to one side, his manner suggesting possible curiosity, so I expanded on it.

"They were the ones who took me in an' gave me a name when I was a baby. The Madam of the house has an open door policy when it comes ta babies. No kid gets a long time to spend there cuz there's always a new mouth to feed, and so they turn you out at seven, but the kiddies they take in at least have a chance, which is more'n what they'd get if they were left in a midden or a ditch as a baby..."

I trailed off and snapped my mouth shut as his look became more remote and realized that I might have inadvertently brought up a touchy subject. His former wife Hisana (from what Rukia had told me) had abandoned her baby sister as an infant in Hangdog, and it was the woman's continuing search for Rukia that had caused her to get sick and eventually die of it. He probably had some issue about that but I wasn't sure what it was, and I didn't want to risk stepping on a land-mine, so I kept my big trap shut this time.

"It is natural then, even proper, for you to feel a continuing obligation to an organization that has aided not only you, but continues to aid many others," he said stiffly after a long awkward silence.

"Yeah I guess," I said, scratching the back of my head. "I help out because they do what good they can for people who don't have anyone to help them in a place where a lotta thugs would kill ya sooner than look atcha. I can't do much on my own ta help the helpless, but Madame runs a tight ship and she has ways of getting things done. I guess I'm happy ta help her out seeing as she took me in and fed me and changed my diapers when she could make a lot bigger profit at the bath-house by ignoring the kiddies like everyone else."

"I believe Hisana once mentioned Barai House," Kuchiki said in an idle, ruminating tone. "It was one of the places she checked regularly, hoping for word of her sister. She seemed to like the woman who ran it well enough as I recall."

I frowned at that and looked incredulously at the Kuchiki. She had _liked _Amber? What the heck kinda woman had Kuchiki married?! Amber was sharper than the edge of Zabimaru, weilding wit, charm and elegance the way surgeons weilded scalpels. Amber was one reason that I had never been taken in by Captain Retsu Unohana's nurturing-motherly act, I already knew better than that. Madam Amber might play at being the doting business woman, but make no mistake about it, she _was _the proverbial sword in the smile. If Kuchiki's Hisana had gotten on well with a personality like Amber's, it made me wonder about what kind of woman she had been... and what my Captain had been thinking to marry such a creature. Girls could be scary.

Kuchiki saw my look and for an instant he looked like he had been tempted to ask me what was up with it before I managed to school it back into a (for me) bland expression, instead he cleared his throat and said

"Since your investigation may have an impact on the affairs of the Seireitei, I give you my permission to look fully into the matter. I will naturally expect a report of your findings on my desk in the morning."

"Yessir, thank-you," I replied at having been given official sanction to pursue my pet project.

"Not at all," Kuchiki said.

His expression was as bland as cream and yet there was the tiniest, barely detectable aura of humor to him as he added

"Such diligence is unusual for you Abarai, and should be encouraged."

I often wondered if he didn't keep me around as his Second just to provide him with amusement from time to time, but then again, that would imply a sense of humor and to my knowledge Kuchiki didn't have one.

"I note that you delivered the papers to my sister this morning," he resumed in a more normal tone. "She seems... improved for your conversation with her."

I looked back at him, unsure about where he was going with this. If he hadn't wanted me talking with her then he shouldn't have sent her to get those papers he'd ordered me here to deliver. We were old friends and there was nothing improper (anymore) about a man with my rank engaging in conversation with a noblewoman, especially if they were old friends.

"Relax Lieutenant," Byakuya Kuchiki said mildly. "I am not chiding you about your engaging my younger sister in conversation. I am merely noting that your long association seems to have given you a certain knack for discovering her troubles."

He hesitated.

"And easing them."

There were a number of things I might have said to that, but I was slowly coming to learn the wisdom in the proverb "better to remain silent and appear foolish than to open your mouth and remove all doubt" so this time I didn't say anything. I looked over at him, trying to guage his feelings on the matter from his expression. For as long as we had been Captain and Lieutenant (for even longer!), Rukia had been a bit of a bone of contention between the two of us. So naturally, the subject was a touchy one and by mutual consent was avoided if at all possible. Part of me sort of wanted to ask what his feelings on the matter involving the Mortal boy and Rukia was, but I wasn't quite that stupid.

"Ah... Yessir," I said, going for formality in the absence of info.

There was something else that had been bothering me, and I wasn't sure when the boss would be feeling positively loquacious (for him anyway) again so I decided to go out on a limb and ask.

"Um, Sir... Can I ask ya sumthin'?"

He nodded his permission.

"When you picked me as yer candidate fer Lieutenant, ya didn't jus' draw my name from a hat..."

He nodded slowly, uncertain where I was going with this but encouraging me to continue.

"The guy who recommended me to ya, he wouldn't have been Aizen, would he?"

I had the rare privilege of seeing Byakuya Kuchiki being taken aback.

"Why yes," he said in vague surprise. "I was surprised by the recommendation at the time from Captain Aizen..." there seemed another touch of humor about him as he said

"Surprised for the same reasons that everyone else was."

I understood the hint that he was driving at; ya don't get much more of an Odd Couple Felix-and-Oscar pair than me an' Captain Blueblood Kuchiki.

"I was just curious," I said quietly.

Kuchiki raised a brow slightly at me, actually seeming to invite comment for once, and I hesitated for a moment before admitting

"Somethin's bin buggin' me about it. You wouldn't know this, though Rukia would seein' as she was there when he said it, but before Aizen managed to pry her away from me and reach inside her body to take the Hougyoku from her, he told me something. He said that out of the three of us, er, me and Kira an' Momo I mean, that I was the most _difficult_. He told me that I was so stubborn and difficult and that he didn't have a use for me. Y'see, he'd had his eye on us right from the start, you mighta heard about that mission that went south during my academy days...?"

Kuchiki nodded affirmation. He knew of the training mission that Hisagi-sempai and two other upper-classmen had taken a bunch of us first-year advanced students on way back when I was in the academy, and how something had mysteriously went wrong and the scene became a killing ground full of Hollows unexpectedly, leaving us Academy students to survive as best we could until help arrived. Our savior then had been Captain Sosuke Aizen of Fifth Squad and his then-Lieutenant (later captain of third) Gin Ichimaru.

"Aizen and his former Vice-Captain were the ones who rescued us, but looking back I sorta wonder if maybe they didn't set up all those Hollows in the first place" I muttered partly to myself. "So anyway, me, Momo and Kira all went directly inta Fifth t'gether, right outta the Academy, Aizen encouraged us to. We all graduated with high enough marks that we got put directly into Seats. Momo he kept under him, Kira he sold upriver to serve Ichimaru, and me, well, he said himself that there wasn't much he could do with me. He called me stubborn and unmanageable, and said he shipped me off to Eleventh as soon as he could."

I trailed off.

"Then it appears he found a use for you after all," Kuchiki finished for me.

"Yeah, he'd have already know about me an' Rukia from back in the academy, it wouldn't have taken a genius ta figure out I'd be harboring a little bit of a grudge on ya. Momo or Kira might even have mentioned it to him by accident, we three are pretty tight and it's common knowledge between us. So by the time I'm ready to become a senior officer, Aizen recommends me for Sixth probably figuring he can sow a little more chaos and dissension in th' ranks. That's one more set with a good distraction..."

I paused, now even more full realizing how well we'd been set up.

"And he made sure of it too!" I realized out loud. "Right after Rukia was put in the Tower, he approached me privately to tell me he personally thought that the situation surrounding her rushed orders for execution stank. He made sure I was gonna fight you, that way, even if you did have second thoughts about turning yer sister over ta be executed you'd have a ready justification to keep your pride in line cuz i'd already be tryin' ta get her free."

There was a long, scowling pause while we both stopped to absorb the implications of that assessment. Not only had I been manipulated, but the Captain had as well.

"it is irritating to be forced to admit," Kuchiki said into the silence. "To being... what is that colorful colloquialism you use? Being played like a puppet?"

"Like a violin, sir," I corrected. "You don't play puppets, ya manipulate 'em."

"A most vexing situation," he agreed.

"It all sort of makes sense now, or at least a little more sense anyway."

"What does?" Kuchiki questioned curiously.

"When Aizen pulled his stunt, he didn't just split the Seireitei along Divisional lines; those have been there for centuries and yet we all manage fine around them, just look at Eighth and Thirteenth. He manipulated peoples personal loyalties to each other, which is... not ta sound sentimental here or nuthin', but that's the Seireitei's _real _strength."

Kuchiki looked at me with a mildly interested look on his face that didn't quite hide the razor sharp intellect in his eyes and said

"Go on."

I swallowed a bit, suddenly worried about soundin' like a fool again. Ancestors knew that I had managed that trick often enough but I was tired of being treated like an idiot all the time, I wanted my words and observations to carry weight for a change! So, I guessed it was time to put it out there and see if maybe I had something.

"Um well... okay..." I stammered, trying to think of a good starting point. "If Aizen had just split up the Seireitei around divisional lines, the center would still have held and he'd have been stopped before he could become a real threat because there are always deeper ties of loyalty from one Reaper to another that transcend divisional boundaries. Like I'm best friends with Kira and Momo even though we're in other divisions, we've been thick as gang-mates since the Academy."

Kuchiki nodded slowly, looking out across the miniature garden, signaling that he was listening even if he didn't appear to be so. Encouraged, I continued

"He knew the squads he didn't have to do much about would be First, Second, Fourth, and Twelfth because all of them except for First are specialists and pretty much stay within their own interests. Second would be too busy with chasing the intruders around to bother with what would have ordinarily been their focus, his supposed murder. Fourth Squad had Unohana in charge of it and she's a sharp cookie, so he probably faked his death partly as a way to keep her distracted by examining his body."

"She was one of the ones who figured him out in the end," Kuchiki agreed coolly.

"Eleventh also would have been easy to contain, Give Cap'n Zaraki a good fight and he'll get to it an' stay outta th' way," I continued, trying to clearly enunciate the conclusions I'd reached for myself.

I wasn't sharp like Hitsugaya or Kuchiki (or Unohana for that matter) or idiot-savvy like Captain Kyoraku, I didn't have Ol' Man Yama's strength or Captain Fuzzy's unwavering solidity, but I did have one thing going for me... I knew people. I liked ta think that I was the kinda guy who'd accept a person's strengths and weaknesses and be able to figure them out pretty well, to be able to know how they'd interact with others. I guess that was my real strength.

"Captain Yama has all the power, but let's put it out there... he's old. That's not sayin' he's weak, but old people, especially old men, get set in their ways. They spend so much of their time lookin' back that they forget to look forward. Aizen probably figured that Yama would be spendin' so much time tryin' to figure out a traditional way to deal with everything he had goin' on that he wouldn't be much of a concern in figuring him out. Third Squad was right out..."

I tried hard to suppress the sharp jab of guilt I felt for Kira's condition. Sure, Momo was outta sorts but she was made of stern stuff in the end, she'd be able to pick herself up and keep goin' on with a little help from her friends. She was essentially still herself, take away Aizen's brainwashing her to think of him as the be-all and end-all of all things and she'd _still _be Momo. Kira though... poor Kira. Ichimaru had been manipulating him, twisting him in very subtle ways for years. I'd seen it happening right before my eyes and been helpless ta stop it. I hadn't known what to do, and now, even though Kira looked like he was pickin' up and carryin' on fine on his own he wasn't. He was a mess inside but he didn't want anyone to see it.

"K-Kira... Kira was firmly under Ichimaru's thumb," I swallowed. "So there was no worries from that corner. Fourth's Unohana and Kotetsu are smart, don't get me wrong, but again, they're specialists. They pretty much stick to their specialty. Seventh could be manipulated well enough through Tousen, because him and Captain Fu- er, um, Captain Komamura was such fast friends, Hisagi-sempai would follow his captain. Eighth and Thirteenth Squad Captains were thick as Gang-mates, so if Captain Juushiro Ukitake was so distracted by concern for Rukia, Captain Kyoraku would follow his lead and help him out."

"Which would have left, Sixth, Tenth and possibly Twelfth as potential threats," Kuchiki finished.

"Not Twelfth. That old miser never looks beyond his clipboard unless its at something he can experiment on," I replied.

Kuchiki made a soft, distainful noise of agreement with my assesment so I wrapped up.

"It's sorta common knowledge that Ichimaru and Matsumoto go way back, so maybe Aizen thought he could manipulate Hitsugaya through his Lieutenant. Unfortunately for him, Ran loves the little squir- er um, her Squad's Captain, and she's more loyal to her friends and the Seireitei than she is to just Ichimaru. Lucky for her and lucky for us all I guess..."

I didn't tell him about what Ran had said to me the other night, something were better left off between friends. Besdies that was not the kind of information he cared about or that I cared to tell him. As far as I was concerned what happened between friends stayed there.

"Which I guess left Sixth," I said.

We looked at each other for a long moment. Anyone would have to acknowledge that we were an odd pair to work as Captain ans Lieutenant. Even without Rukia as a bone of contention between us, it was, frankly, strange that we would run a squad together. You didn't get any nobler than Kuchiki, they were the last of the Four Great Noble Houses with all of their honors and their good name still intact. You didn't get much of a humbler background than me; a kid raised in the second lowest district of Rukongai who had literally fought his way up the ranks on ability alone. Kuchiki didn't like socializing and I was happiest around people. He liked spicy food and I liked sweet. We'd fought over principles on more than one occasion; he felt that his honor and pride was worth sacrifice and I always felt that pride and honor meant nothing if the people you loved weren't kept safe. No matter which way you looked at it we were complete opposites, and the only thing we really had in common was the one thing we were destined to fight over. Strangely though, even with all of those differences, we worked. Setting aside the issue of Rukia, as a man and a Captain, Kuchiki had my respect and admiration. True, most of the time it was grudging because he was persnikety as hell about the letter of the law rather than the spirit of it, but deep down where it counted I knew I'd do my best for him. I'd disagree with him if I thought he was wrong, but maybe that's just what I was there for. I'd back him up in the unlikely event he should ever actually need me to. And all the while I'd keep trying to reach his level, even if I didn't have a reason for it anymore, I wasn't going to give up trying to surpass him. For a bare instant I thought I saw something flicker in his expression, like he somehow knew what I was thinking, knew and understood it.

"Carry on Lieutenant," he said resuming the distant pose of the Kuchiki once again... but, maybe I was mistaken, but, it semed like there was the lightest softening of his icy demeanor.

"Yessir," I replied, preparing to flash off back to my quarters in preparation for my investigation. "Tell Rukia I'll bring her back a present, if that's alright."

Kuchiki nodded his permission and added

"Good hunting."

* * *

**You know, this chapter gave me labor pains. I was like one of those pregnant women who can't just squirt it out but have to suffer in agony for days. It wasn't originally part of the story but after rereading a bit I decided that it had to be in there and this was the perfect place to put it. They needed a last lingering moment to say thier [artings and reaffirm thier bonds before-- oh well, now that would be telling. ^_^ So, yeah, sorry it's taken me nearly three weeks to post this up, I just now got it right. I actually had to write it out instead of pasting from what I had already written and as I did I kept rethinking it and changing things and adding things in and taking them out... I was never satisfied with it. Even now, but I've decided that enough is enough. I'm posting it up, satisfied or not. Don't worry, all the rest of the chapters after this will be posted regularly because they've already been written. Sorry about the wait, please review kindly... eh heh heh heh... I got my PS3! I got my Final Fantasy 13! (rest of the crowd says: aha! Now we see the real reason she didn't post!) If I get sucked into the final fantasy void again, just send me and e-mail and remind my lazy ass to post again. Sorry again about the wait!**

**~Nightheart**

**P.S. I'm only going up to thirteen with the numbering thing, for the thirteen squads y'know, the rest are just going to be regular titles.  
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	16. Sensual Amber

**Extra content posted at the end! I thought as I was dividing up the chapters that that scene really belonged in this chapter but I reluctantly left it alone figuring I'd fix it later but I forgot when I posted. So now its fixed and the narrative flows a little more freely.**

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I dropped by my office in Sixth for a little while to read over those papers that Lieutenant Kurostuchi had dug up for me. I left my door cracked with a little music from earth playing to signal that I was open to take visitors. The papers didn't tell me much that Ukitake hadn't already summarized for me.

The accounts themselves were conflicting in the details; most accounts held that The Believed were a Human convention, that humans had somehow been able to tap into the vast reservoir of spiritual energy that flowed through all of creation, in the human world and elsewhere, and somehow by simply believing hard enough in it, they had managed to simply _will _the massively powerful spirit entities into being. Other accounts said that the spirit beings that had been labeled the Believed had actually been in existence long before humans had ever existed and that the impact that Humanity had had over them was to create a structure and indoctrinate them into a system that defined them and their abilities. One thing the documents all agreed upon was the fact that, however they had come to be, the Believed relied upon the spiritual force that came from out of worship. They also seemed to think that once a particular entity was no longer the nexus of a system of worship, that being, having lost a great deal of its purpose became disconnected from its place in the Mortal World. A vast majority of the other accounts were about something that was called the Great Exode, a time when nearly all of the Believed, having lived in the mortal world (supposedly) for millenia, were either excised from their traditional places of worship by new worship systems or simply chose to leave for Divine Realms (it was a place that was supposedly like the Siereitei only for spirit beings that were not Human) in order to escape the strange new ways that Humans were coming to define their world. Much of it, however new and kinda interesting, was actually pretty dry. Trust the weirdos at Twelfth to suck out all the life interest from something even that mysterious. A lot of the account was dry scholarly stuff speculating about their nature of their reiatsu and whether or not they built their homes in the Divine Realms of reishin like we did, and whether or not they were subject to entropy (whatever the hell that was) and so on.

I was interrupted not infrequently by various members of Sixth, three of the younger officers had certain concerns to bring to my attention. One kid had fallen in love with a woman in the Rukon District and wanted a place to keep her well, so I had him fill out the necessary forms and congratulated him (and tried not to feel just a bit envious of him) the other two just had routine matters to ask me about. The last three were Seated officers I'd requested to meet with me that day to talk about the newbies I had picked out for their elements. After having waded through the reports from Twelfth I grabbed a late lunch at the chow hall and then took up my cloak for another visit to Hangdog. I was just spendin' all kindsa time in my old haunts lately.

Jidanbo gave me a friendly nod and said

"Pleasant day, Lieutenant."

I waved back to the massive gatekeeper as the gate to the Seireitei thumped shut behind me, cutting off the vewi of the Seireitei's neat streets and clean houses. I was so accustomed to the cleanliness and orderliness of the Seireitei that sometimes finding myself back on the streets of my old life came as a bit of a surprise still. I shrugged off the mental shift, pulled my worn cloak around me and blurred into flash-step. The trip to the very outer districts from the inner ring was a journey of days, perhaps weeks, for a normal soul. It had taken Rukia and me over a week to make it all the way from Hangdog that first trip in. As a Soul Reaper it was a matter of mere hours using flash step and dusk was coming on as a blurred into being outside of the neatly walled courtyards. In contrast to the streets that surround it, Barai house was (nearly) as clean and orderly as any of the buildings within the Seireitei, part of this was probably just because of the nature of the place; it was a bath-house after all, but mostly the fact that it was so clean and unmolested was the simple fact that no-one within even the dog-eat-dog world of the Lower Districts would risk pissing off the proprietress.

Barai House was one of the better, if not the best, building in the district. It rose above all of the other shacks and shanties cobbled together from refuse that were the homes in good ol' District seventy-eight. Three stories tall and made of proper wood planks with real rice paper screens, it would even have fit in (sort of) in one of the upper districts. There were even actual furnishings in it. The first floor was the place where the courtesans amused thier clients with songs, dancing, entertainments and food and wine, and the spots with various tubs sunk into the floor surrounded by walls and screens for privacy while the customers bathed. I remembered perfectly well how much work it took to clean the tile-lined tubs daily and to refill the copper boilers underneath with water from the well nearby. The bath-house was where Amber made most of her money, but it just wouldn't be Hangdog if that was all it was. For an extra surcharge a thug could get an extra long and thorough bath and towel-off from certain of the bathing assistants who were willing. The upper two stories were where the women, ah, plied their trade. The second floor was where the women "worked" and the top floor were their actual living quarters combined with the nursery area where the street orphans were kept.

The top tier naturally belonged to Amber herself, she reigned over her little kingdom like a queen, settling disputes between the servants, overseeing the training rosters of the new ladies, inspecting performances, guiding new girls through their first uncertain days, and more importantly, gathering information and gossip on those outside of her House (and even her District) like a spider gathers flies. She knew all the dirt on all the leading thugs in the area, knew who to ply with what to get a particular thing done, kept an eye on the ever-shifting patchwork of inter-gang and thug politics on the streets. She was a mastermind when to came to political strategy, and if one thought that the nobles in the Seireitei could politic... heh, they had nuthin' on Madam Amber. The fact that she was quite beautiful only made her all the more dangerous because the menfolk tended to dismiss that keen mind of hers out of hand. All they saw was a sensual courtesan with a full figure and milk-soft hands, they didn't know that all the danger they could ever be prepared to face lay hidden beneath the surface. And she was my onee-san. She'd made something of a particular pet of me when I had been under the age of turn-out, I think she'd liked my hair color, which had been an amber color in between the orange and the crimson stages. I'd been her errand boy and messenger as a young child before I went out on the streets with my gang. Even after the Academy I still kept in touch, more so after I'd lost Rukia. It didn't fill the void but it helped a little to know that I still had a connection with someone in my past. Amber and I had never been lovers, I didn't even ask for one of her girls, mostly we talked gossip and politics while we played mahjong and I lost money to her on a regular basis.

I presented myself to the waiting greeter by the front door and said

"Tell Amber that Renji would like to see her at her earliest convenience."

I was always polite when I requested an audience with the queen of the sector, certainly I could easily fight my way out of there (her guards didn't have a tenth of the training I had had over the years) but Amber-onee-san was the closest thing I had to a mother figure, and I would never _dream _of being disrespectful towards her in her own house.

I was something of a familiar face there, and well liked too, not the least because I tended to bring money with me that took a great deal of the strain off Amber's purse strings trying to support the children upstairs. One of the Ladies, Onyx, a dark voluptuous woman with hair and eyes as dark as her name-stone, seated me in a private chamber with a tray of tidbits and some sake. A few of her friends, who were off duty at the moment stopped to flirt politely with me. Even if it wasn't meant on either side, flirting and coquetry was the language of the house.

"We-el, if it isn't my Little Orangey," a familiar voice said to me about a half hour after the ladies left to go get ready for the night. She pronounced the word with an accent like or-renji.

I turned and scowled over at her for the use of that nickname. But she was my onee-san so it was her right. I took a lot more crap from the women in my life than I ever would tolerate from anyone else.

"Hey Amber Onee-san," I said with a casual wave.

"Is my Little Orangey here for business or pleasure?" she inquired politely.

She probably already knew I was there for business seeing as I asked for her specifically, if I were interested in something else I'd have settled in one of the common rooms and waited.

"Business, but it's always a pleasure to see you," I replied easily.

It was always wise to flatter the Madam. She knew I didn't mean a word of it, but she detested a spineless man with no turn of phrase and no manners. While under Amber's roof, I was James Bond.

"Are you sure I can't interest you in an evening with company, my girls are just dying to know how far down your tatoos go, and if you'll let them add on to them," Amber said with a lazy smile that was all teasing sensuality. She didn't mean it either really, that's just how she was. The act had become so ingrained in her tenure as Madam that it was second nature.

"Much as it pains me to leave your lovely ladies on their own for company, my hours ain't... aren't my own I'm afraid."

Amber despised street cant.

"Then to business," she replied promptly.

She gestured to her nearby right hand, an eternally young-looking woman who tended to fade into the background no matter where she stood, it wasn't that she wasn't dressed flamboyantly, but everything in Ambers was brilliantly colored but still managing tasteful. The woman had this sort of blandness about her that made the eye pass right over her unless she called attention to herself deliberately. The woman handed over an account book to Amber and took herself out of the way to give the illusion of privacy.

The account book detailed how much I gave on a regular basis and where the money was spent so that I could see for myself that it wasn't being was, naturally some small amount of graft but that was only to be expected, it was Hangdog after all. What was mportant was that the children at Barai House got the benefit of the majority of it.

"I had to bribe the courier from District seventeen and extra silver piece for the formula this month," Amber said as I pored over it and noted that the donation hadn't gone as far as it usually did.

"It seems that all the Couriers and messengers who run reliable businesses are raising their prices a little these days," she said. " All those rumors about the Shadows seem to have given them a reason to charge more for increased danger."

Well that was the actual reason I had come to visit so I figured it wouldn't hurt to fish a little for information to see what she'd let drop for free.

"Shadows huh?" I said, my tone carefully absorbed in the ledger before me. "And what do you make of those rumors?"

"Oh they're real enough, or at least they are a real clever smokescreen," Ambers voice held a note of consternation in it. "If someone wants certain children dead across the Districts he's being very cautious to hide his trail. No thug will go near the title anymore since the last three thugs that tried to claim that they were the Shadow's master wound up very emphatically dead."

Her tone said that the people who had gotten hold of the poor bastard to make him that way had taken their time about it.

"And it's just children?" I asked curiously.

"It's hard to tell," she answered honestly. "As you know, young people wind up dead all the time around here, it's difficult to sort out who the real victims are from those who are being attributed as victims of the Shadows. It's getting worse as the rumors spread. It's not difficult to foresee at all that things might get very bad down here with certain powerful thugs see this Shadow fear as carte blanche to get rid of people they find inconvenient without having to answer to their gang-lords."

I nodded my head sagely at that. She was right about the very bad part. The lower districts were run on two things, fear and respect. One got the other in this place. If people lost their fear of retribution all hell could break loose and destroy anyone and everyone who got caught in the middle. There would be rampant gang-wars and riots, fires, people would loose their homes and their access to food and water. Desperate people were dangerous. Maybe not to the Seireitei, but life on the streets of Rukon was tough enough as it was...

She had to have already been dealing with some of the fall-out. The thugs that frequented her place were the men in the upper echelons of local gangs and Amber enforced her neutrality with threat of assassination, she had to be hip deep in the bitter rivalries and suspicions that the gangs were likely already starting to form. Things were probably getting tense.

I pulled my money pouch filled with a good portion of my personal wages from the front of my cloak and laid it nonchalantly on the table. It wasn't a bribe, it was an offering from a respectful former son to a former matron who would see it put to best use. She pretended not to notice it but it disappeared an instant later. Madam's clever and quick hands hadn't lost their touch, I noted.

"Have you talked with anyone who has seen one of these Shadows, or has one appeared here?"

"I sent my guard out to make some inquiries when a few of the local kids went missing,: Amber said, looking surprisingly worn for a moment before the mask slipped back into place. "A few said they saw something take their gang-mates, but no-one could say anything definitive other than it looked like nothing and it came out of the dark."

"Do any of your littles have spiritual power?" I asked next.

"None in this batch have shown any of the usual signs," she replied sounding both relieved and disappointed. Amber liked kids with spiritual power because they could use a particular skill that reversed the effects of aging and did healer-stuff on the women.

"You certainly seem interested," she noted with a shrewd sharp look.

"Anything that affects a beautiful woman is of interest to me," I said with my bright, lying gentlemanly smile. She looked back at me, non-plussed and said

"Huh, nice try, boy. If you are interested in information you'll have to pay for it like everybody else."

I thought about it for a minute, trying to decide if I had gotten enough out of her and the rest might be found elsewhere or if she'd purposely held the best from me in hopes of a good bribe. She was smiling smugly, but that could be a draw for something trivial. I shrugged to myself and pulled two silvers from my pocket, I had only been going to waste it on sake anyway.

"I'll be asking something more than a few silvers for it then."

"Like what?" I asked suspiciously, already fearing I knew the answers.

"It's my shift for littles tonight and I'm more of a mind to mingle..." she trailed off, smiling at me brightly.

My shoulders slumped, she wanted a babysitter. She already knew I wasn't going to say no.

"I can only stay a few hours," I qualified. "I still have my Captain's paperwork to finish and practice tonight."

"hmm..." she said consideringly. "You know for a young man with a reputation as the rebellious sort, you're certainly very studious."

How had she heard about my reputation? On second thought, I probably didn't want to know.

"Alright then, you'll be working with the two new girls in the nursery until high-moon."

I sighed a little and tried to look pathetic, which she didn't buy any more than Rukia had. She knew I was only faking it anyway. To be honest, even though the little kids could be terrors, I sort of liked playing big brother for an evening. There weren't any kids in the Seireitei, or at least if they were they were all cloistered away behind the walls of the noble estates. Either way, I never got to see them and I sort of liked kids.

"Deal," I agreed and we shook on it.

I made my goodbyes to Amber and went straight up to the nursery where I promptly reported for duty. The two young ladies already there were juggling a crying baby in one arm each while three tiresome little brats tried to play tag around their legs. They both gave me melting looks of gratitude when I took charge of the three running around like half-naked little monkeys. To distract them, I showed them my one-handed juggling act and the way I had of walking a coin across my knuckles. Kids loved that. It wasn't very hard to keep their attention while the two other girls finished washing and feeding the four little infants. Three of them quieted down, but the fourth, a wizened looking little fellow, was having none of it. He started setting up a hue and cry every time his unfortunate nurse tried to put him down. She looked harried and exhausted so I silently took the child while she traded me mine (with a great many protests) and pushed them into the nursery washroom for bathing. The baby was far from happy about being handled by a strange man and let me know it. Luckily, the little bundle of noise was as susceptible as any baby was to tossing and being played with. What finally won him over was my summoning up a tiny speck of reiatsu and making it dance. He quieted down after that. All the kids gathered in the middle of the nursery and I played songs from the mortal realm with a guitern to keep them amused and quiet for the rest of my stay. It was a surprisingly short few hours later when Madam came to relieve me and by then, most of them had dropped off as I started playing slower songs. The ones who were clinging to wakefulness were doing so by a hair.

"It never ceases to amuse me how a man who prides himself so much on being such a tough-guy can be so sweet around all these screaming little demons," Amber noted, leaning against the nursery doorway entrance.

"Shh!" I hissed. "You're gonna ruin my rep. Besides, I just got th' little demons to sleep an' I don' want 'em wakin'--"

"Your language Renji," she admonished me. "Please don't speak in such a way that is _far _from elegant in my presence."

"Yes ma'am."

I had always sort of wondered how a place like Hangdog had produced a woman like Amber. This place was filled with rough, crude, thuggish types and Amber was ever the epitome of grace and elegance. It was like seeing Eleventh Squad produce someone like my boss. Amber was on the taller side of average, and so voluptuously built so that even a full Kimono didn't hide her feminine curves. Her heart-shaped face, framed by full, thick waves of hair that was auburn but with highlights of deep crimson, was smooth and young-looking without a single wrinkle or worry line, even though I knew she was older than me and the Captain combined (but a woman never discussed her age and I had always had just enough sense not to ask). Her eyes were green-flecked gold in color, and never seemed to give anything away of what she was feeling, her straight patrician nose sat above full sensual lips that were always set in a smile was always enough and never too much. She used her feminine beauty to advantage too, I'd seen her do it. Even if a man went onto the room fully knowing how dangerous she was, Amber filled her role as hostess, and traditional-seeming female so well that they always let their guard down in spite of themselves. No wonder she ran Hangdog, she was formidable and I was always oddly proud to call her my onee-san. It was she who had taught me that the best thing I could ever do was to play into people's expectations of me, and Amber who had also taught me that what I claim as mine I am responsible for, not just for that short time, but for forever. I owed a lot of my more redeeming qualities to her, she was more like a mother to me than an older sister though she'd look at me in horror and scold me for saying so; no woman ever wants to be told that they look old enough to be someone's mother (and especially not Amber).

"Here," she said handing me a scroll sealed in red wax and written on in her finest calligraphy, or maybe it was her scribes finest calligraphy.

"Is this it?" I asked.

"That's all I've been able to gather so far," she said. "It isn't much but it might help. I want this thing or bastard _caught _and sliced up to be served with sauce, Renji."

For a moment her mask slipped, and she went from the elegant and congenial mistress of the Barai House to the commanding amazon queen that lay underneath her urbane persona. She was easily as tough as any of the war-lords or leading thugs here in Rukon and twenty times as clever easily; she'd have to be in order to not only acheive the level of success she had, but to keep her establishment solvent and not beholden toany of the various gangs of thugs that ran the patchwork of gang-territories in Hangdog. Barai House was neutral territory, unbeholden to any one gang, serving all of their members equally; to maintain that neutrality was a delicate balancing act requiring equal measures of tact, subtlety, bribery and threat, and it was a game that a woman like Amber excelled at.

:And the Captain married a woman who got on well with Amber,: I thought, mentally shaking my head at it. Of course, it did sorta make sense. Captain was a Kuchiki after all, and I knew from personal observation that he was deep into politics right up to his aristocratic chin, he would only fall for the kind of woman who could match him. Scary.

I bowed my gratitude to her and soberly promised

"I'll do my best. Thanks Amber."

With that I took myself off. I was halfway through the districs heading back when I abruptly thought of another possible source of information out there that wouldn't neccessitate two trips to the Rukongai. There was another woman around these parts that might know of something useful.

Kuukaku Shiba.

I hadn't met her much directly but I kneew that her little brother had been Rukia's first lieutenant, and her first crush. Call me petty but I'd sort of avoided contact with that family for just that reason. Still, we sorta had a common cause right then so it couldn't hurt to try it out.

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**I good set-up chapter, but the next one is the pivotal one where the story really gets started. Look forward to it please!**

**~Nightheart.  
**


	17. Cliffhanger

**Extra content posted at the end of Chapter 16! Go back and read it! ...I thought as I was dividing up the chapters that that scene really belonged in the previous chapter but I reluctantly left it alone figuring I'd fix it later, but I forgot when I posted. So now it's fixed and the narrative flows a little more freely. Sorry about the mix up, this chapter really is about what happens at Kuukaku Shiba's residence anyway and it should begin there. So here it is, the pivotal chapter (I'm so excited!) Let's get it started!  


* * *

**

I was halfway through the districts heading back when I abruptly thought of another possible source of information out there that wouldn't necessitate two trips to the Rukongai. There was _another _woman around these parts that might know of something useful.

Kuukaku Shiba.

I hadn't met her much directly but I knew that her little brother had been Rukia's first lieutenant, and her first crush. Call me petty but I'd sort of avoided contact with that family for just that reason. Still, we sorta had a common cause right then so it couldn't hurt to try it out.

:_Hm, lesseee_...: I thought to myself.

I knew that their strange little fireworks shop was supposed to be able to change locations every now and then, but that no-matter where it was located, it was always noticeable because it was always a little weird. Rukia told me that last time it had had two giant arms sticking up out of the ground on it. Still... it shouldn't be too hard for me to find, all I had to do was look around for a small gang riding piggy back (literally!) and follow their scent back to their sty. I flashed off to a nearby tavern, paid a man for some info about a gang riding pigs and flashed off to that sector, paid again for some information, and flashed off to that sector. By now I was seriously beginning to wonder if it was worth the investment in time and money. The lead panned out though, and I picked up their trail and scented it back. A half hour later I found the Shiba Residence.

:_Hoo-boy_,: I thought to myself with a weirded-out look on my face.

I couldn't help it, it definitely wasn't everyday that a guy saw two massive stone heads carved to look like the heads from Easter Island that had been decorated with bright neon flowers with a tower painted to look like a barbershop pole standing quietly in a field next to a river.

:_Oh, she redecorated. Maybe I should have brought a housewarming present_.:

Not one to waste time, I flashed across the river and knocked politely on the front door, which had been painted with a fresco to look like the Last Supper, but all the saints had been replaced with clown faces. I snickered. A heartbeat later I was ambushed by her two massive house-guards. I flashed out of the way before they could catch me. Geeze, I'd been doing more flashing in the last few days than I had in months, it was getting me into shape pretty quickly.

"I come in peace!" I called, protesting my innocence.

The guards regarded me stonily (no joke) and narrowed thier eyes at me.

"I jus' wanna exchange info on who or what it is that's making the ruckus here in the Rukongai, that's all. I figured the Shiba the Elder might know sumthin' about it."

I held my hands up by my head to show that I wasn't a threat. I could take these guys, and it would be fun, but I wasn't there for a fight and that sort of thing tended to give a bad impression.

"Down idjits," the owner of the weird shop commanded from the entry way. "Let the tatooed Soul Reaper in, he's a friend of a friend."

:_Gee, what a recommendation... I guess_.:

Kuukaku Shiba was another attractive woman, in a rough sort of way. She had all of the right parts in all the right places, but even with her revealing clothes she tended to give off a sort of masculine aura. I kinda liked her though, oddly enough. She struck me as the sort who didn't bullshit around and would tell you what she was thinking right to your face.

The twin guards studied me like pit bulls deciding whether or not to growl as I walked between them into the...establishment.

I followed the woman down into her lair and was seated in a tatami room on a cushion. She seated herself on her own cushions on a dais to denote her status and puffed from out of a hookah for a long minute. I sat there and stared back, pulling my hood off my head and waiting.

"So watcha want?" she asked bluntly.

"Heard a rumor 'bout somethin' goin' after kids an' thought I'd take a look," I said. "It's not _official _Seireitei business or anything, though the Captain knows about it and doesn't mind as long as my other work gets done. Wondered if you'd heard anythin' about sumthin' called the Shadows."

She regarded me for a long minute, seeming to weigh me and measure me.

"Follow me," she said, rising to her feet.

Puzzled, but figuring that if she wanted me dead she'd try an' do it herself, I got up and followed her. She led me down the hall and down some stairs, deeper into her strange little rabbit hole. Then stopped outside of a room and motioned for silence. She very quietly pulled aside the screen door and let me peek in. Sleeping in a pile of futons in the middle of the room were about thirteen or fourteen children of different ages and genders. I looked back over at her questioningly. She led me away from the nursery and out of earshot when she said

"I heard about the rumors of something targeting children with spirit powers so I had my people go out and start collecting them to bring them here so I could place them under wards," she said. "A few of them know other kids who'd disappeared, but none have seen it happen. The thought is that if you've got power and you see one, then you vanish. The rumors are all the same, they come at night from out of the shadows and a kid is gone without a trace."

"Yer _kind _ta take 'em in so nuthin' happens to 'em," I said sincerely.

"What about you?" she asked directly, looking at me. "You Soul Reapers must have info I don't, didja find anything that'll help?"

"Nothin' concrete," I said.

I willingly detailed what I had picked up on my own at my old haunt and then the stuff the Soul Society dug up, although, I was quick to add, there was no actual link between the two of them and for all I knew it could be a wild theory. I added the little that Amber had been able to tell me, though I didn't add my speculation that Aizen might be involved, and finished off with

"...And that's all I've got so far. If I can't find a real lead soon I may just have ta beg permission to visit the Mortal World."

"You think the boy might know something?" she questioned me, sounding a little dubious.

I shook my head, surprised that that was conclusion she'd come up with... like I'd ever willingly go running to that brat with my problems, I could handle my own problems myself!

"Uruhara," I said shortly. "Ol' hat-an'-clogs might not be part of the Seireitei anymore, but he always seems to know ten times more than anyone else does about _everything_."

"That's true," she agreed with me. "Thanks for the heads up about the Believed, I dunno that I really think it's true, but its always useful to at least have a theory."

"Yeah, theories are _real _useful," I said, looking at her in exasperation. "I'd rather have somethin' who's head I can nail to the wall though."

She grinned along with me.

"I hear that," she agreed.

I was about to go my separate way back to the stack of paperwork that was waiting for me on my desk when the wind seemed to shift a bit and I caught a familiar scent on the breeze. At the same time I got that chilled, hungry feeling ya get when you're near a reiatsu so powerful that it freezes you in yer tracks.

"It's _here_," I snarled drawing Zabimaru and charging back down the stairs towards all those kids.

The woman and her two house-guards were a half a beat behind me. I didn't bother pausing to open the door I just smashed right through it. A lot of the kids startled awake and the elder kids hopped to their feet or knees, looking for danger. Street reflexes had had a little more time to become ingrained in them so they reacted more like they should.

In the center of the room was a circular pinpoint of darkness that was irissing outwards into a gaping hole in the fabric of the world. The hole was blurry-edged kinda like heat-haze and the center was blacker than black. My brow automatically furrowed in puzzlement as I saw more blackness coming out of it. It didn't look like the hole was getting any bigger, but it looked like someone had taken black-soot smoke and condensed it into a cloud thick as pea-soup but the edges of that cloud seemed to sort of shimmer a bit. It was the strangest thing, the shimmer wasn't light but more like it had so much not-light that it warped the air around it. The room was choked thick (at least to me) with the scent of temple and graveyard incense and the temperature had dropped like a stone. I didn't think to pause for a moment more as the stuff that was coming from out of the portal began to make its way over to the kids, who had woken up and were now headed for the furthest corner of the room away from it (never mind that there was no exit there).

"Roar, Zabimaru!" I commanded.

My sword transformed into its shikai state in a blink and I shot it out at the black badness trying to attack a buncha kids on my watch.

The end of the blade went right into the Shadow (it had to be one of them) and went out the other side. The same thing happened when Kuukaku lobbed a small bomb at it, with one end lit. The little bomb passed right through it like it was made of nothing and passed right out the other side.

The two guards behind us rushed at it, and that's when the Shadow counterattacked. As the boys leaped at it, black lightning... that couldn't be called _lightning _because it seemed to be made of the complete _absence _of light, shot out from the center of it, hitting the two men in the centers of their chests and sending them flying backwards into the wall where they promptly slumped down, unconscious.

"Aniki!" a familiar voice called from the top of the stairs.

"Don't come any closer!" Big Sis Kuukaku commanded.

She began to chant the opening lines to a Hado attack.

I brought my extended sword up through the Shadow, slicing it lengthwise and then curling it around to try slicing it width-wise just to see if there was some solid part of it that I might be able to hit. I dodged out of the way of it's darkning attack and tried again, keeping it distracted while she finished her spell.

"Hado forty-two, shui-yue!" she called.

A frozen lance of water and moonlight appeared in her hand and shot towards the spectacularly unaffected Shadow. In reply another lance of darkning shot towards her.

My tongue seemed to burn with the scent of incense and ozone but this time, when the thing attacked, I noticed something I hadn't before. Just before the Shadow attacked the strange shimmer that rippled along the outside of the shadow like oil on top of water seemed to thicken in one place.

"Miss Shiba!" I said, getting an idea. "Do it again."

"It didn't work!" she snapped at me.

"Yeah, but I think I have an idea," I replied, pulling Zabimaru back into blade rest.

"Hey, little Brother," I called out, unable to remember the guy's name in that moment. "Come get the kids out."

I charged at the shadow again, extending Zabimaru even though it went through it and keeping its attention and lightning attacks on me. The guy who had come to the Seireitei with Ichigo when he'd nvaded to rescue Rukia snuck into the room and led the kids out while I kept the Shadow distracted. Seeing its prey escape didn't seem to make it very happy and it made a noise that sounded a lot like the scream of metal being torn and rent in half combined with the sound of someone scraping their nails across a chalkboard. I shuddered.

Kuukaku started her chant, so I got moving.

I didn't let up for a moment, dodging and weaving around its attacks. I jumped from spot to spot only pausing long enough to let it target me and to strike out with my chain-blade. It wasn't even thrown for a loop when I launched myself over it and attacked from above, but it did almost manage to get me by guessing my trajectory as I landed. I barely managed to bring Zabimaru to blade-rest in time to block its attack. I kept one ear cocked for the sound of Kuukaku chanting in the background between darkning attacks. It didn't seem to have any openings but I kept at it, darting Zabimaru in for attacks as I ducked and weaved in dance-like patterns, always keeping in motion.

There was something interesting I noted when it attacked, the surface of the shadow deemed to ripple just a hair more thickly in one place and at that point what could only be described as a dark sort of glow, no it wasn't a _glow_, it was like the Shadow seemed to take on a dark sort of _substantial form _at that point. I tried launching Zabimaru at it, but was repeatedly repelled. Bingo.

"Aim for the center," I gasped as it finally managed to score a hit past Zabimaru's guard on me. It stung like the dickens, like getting tazered by Rukia's best Hado attack. "Where it gets thickest."

"Hado forty-two, Shui-yui!" she concluded.

Moonlight and water lanced liqudly at the center of the shadow. The surface of the thing thickened and shimmered even as the lance passed harmlessly through it but that was the opening I'd been waiting for. I shot Zabimaru at the place where the heat-shimmer was still thick an eyeblink behind where Kuukaku's hado attack had just hit before the shimmer could disperse back out along its formless form again.

It struck... sort of. Zabimaru didn't hit anything actually solid, in fact it felt to me a little like sticking a knife into tapioca pudding. It didn't seem to stick much and the Shadow was quick to seize an advantage and send darkning down the length of my blade and into my body.

In my long history of battles I've been knocked around, sliced open, nearly ripped apart, limbs dislocated, being floored by kido attacks and nearly nicked to death by a cloud of tiny petal-sized blades... so I've experienced many various ways that pain could be inflicted on my body, some of which had been very painful indeed. There had been times when I had thought that I wouldn't survive, even if I wanted to. Getting hit by that Shadow's darkning attack blew all other orders of pain I had experienced thus far completely out of the water. It felt like a chemical burn beneath my skin, rising in mounting waves as though someone had flayed the flesh from my body and then poured brine water on it. My bones seemed to heat up like a blade being forged and my blood turned to liquid lightning inside my shell, which threatened to fly apart. I couldn't do anything but scream in agony.

It cut off abruptly but I felt Zabimaru, which had been sunk in the semi-solid puddin-spot in the Shadow suddenly start getting pulled in, as though someone had the other end and was pulling on it. I pulled back and whipped downward. Like a fish on a line, the Shadow fought me. I was about to try another attack, or go Bankai on its ass, when suddenly a great sheet of darkness with an oily heat shimmer over it flooded at me like a tidal wave. It crashed into me with a force that felt like pure, concentrated reiatsu, the level that can freeze a man in his tracks. I was lifted up off my feet, but instead of being knocked back I found myself being borne along with that force as easily as a leaf was borne on the surface of a river. My head went under and I was completely enveloped in darkness.

Everything was a blur of silence and motion. I couldn't see anything, and my nose was too overwhelmed by the smell of incense that I couldn't smell anything either. My body felt weightless and at the same time... I felt heavier than I could ever remember feeling. Even that time Ichigo had beat me and I couldn't move my limbs even to save Rukia's life. I wasn't sure if I lost consciousness or not because I couldn't see or hear of taste or feel or smell anything at all.

The last thing I sensed was the strange not-here feeling of passing through a gateway through the dividing world and then everything just cut off.

The next thing I knew I was lying on my back on a hard surface. A dim sort of yellowish light was shining down on me. I blinked my eyes and groaned. Forget a hangover, this felt like an all-over-_body_ hangover. Every part of me ached as though I'd been ordered to run circles around the Seireitei with everyone in it beating me with clubs gauntlet-style. I didn't move for a long moment, trying to sort myself out. There was no one single injury as far as I could tell, I felt like one giant bruise.

:_Now I know how a cockroach feels when it gets stepped on but the guy doesn't finish the job of killing it_,: I thought to myself.

I mentally nudged at the place in my soul where Zabimaru slept and went cold with panic when I didn't feel him respond. I didn't even feel his presence and for a very significant portion of my life that presence had been my one constant. I felt suddenly like a man who'd woken up missing his arms and legs. Zabimaru just couldn't be _gone_! He was part of me, part of my essence as a Soul Reaper, he just couldn't be _not there_!

I noticed something else as I lay there in pain, the very fact that I felt pain like this _at all_. For a Soul Reaper, pain was relative; one could be injured and feel a sort of pain, even vast debilitating pain, but even that pain was a step removed from the immediacy of flesh. The pain I felt right then had every bit of that normal, human, _living _pain in it and then some. In addition I felt... heavy. It felt like every part of my body was weighted down with lead, so much so that even the thought of getting up was enough to make me cringe in exhaustion. And that just wasn't right, I'd been bed-ridden more than a time or two, but it had never felt like this!

:_Zabimaru_!: I called, I had to settle for a mental shout into the corners of my soal because my voice wasn't working right then.

My chest tightened and I tried to move my body, it was painful as hell but I pushed the pain aside and sat up, casting about frantically for my buddy. As soon as I got a good look at myself I wanted to lay back down and close my eyes and hope the nightmare passed quickly.

:_No. No this can't be_...: I moaned to myself. :_This is impossible_.:

I was sitting out in the middle of a deserted street in what could only be the Mortal World and it was night outside, that light over my head was a street lamp. I was completely naked, and the binding marks on my body were gone. My gigai was heavier than any gigai I had ever felt before.

:_In fact_,: I realized with a sinking feeling of dread. :_It's not a gigai at all_.:

I brought my hands up before me and waggled my fingers, searching for Zabimaru's Binding Marks on me and finding none. They were gone, he was gone, and there was a tiny cut on the back of one hand that bled out a red, metallic blood.

I was mortal.

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**Dun dun duuuun! **


	18. The Right Place at the Right Time

I stared out sightlessly at the night of the mortal realm in a stupor of shock. It just wasn't possible. This couldn't be happening to me. There was just no-way this was possible...

I mentally replayed the events of the fight against the Shadow searching for an explanation or at least somewhere to start. The battle had seemed to be going okay, it was a new kind of enemy that no-one had ever faced before but I'd thought that I'd figured out a weak point. I'd finally managed to score some kind of hit on it, getting Zabimaru lodged in it's shadowy midsection. We'd been playing tug of war for Zabimaru's fangs when it had sent a bolt of dark-lightning down him that had felt like six kinds of excruciating pain. I'd been enveloped by shadows and woke up here.

I'd woke up here in the living world... as a mortal human.

I tried searching for Zabimaru again but I couldn't feel him anywhere, it was a not-feeling that was painful in it's absence. It was worse in it's way than loosing Rukia would be, granted she'd been part of my life for longer and sometimes I felt close enough to her to where it felt like she was part of me, but Zabimaru was part of my soul. It was different.

The wind was chilly with spring frost, reminding me that part of the human condition was to feel the extremes of hot and cold. I could feel them as a Soul Reaper, naturally, but they weren't _nearly _this bad. Even the slight breeze had me shivering, (of course, it could also be the fact that I was wearing not a stitch). I needed to get some clothes before my privates decided to try to crawl up in me and not come out.

I stood up and looked around. Out of habit, I tested the wind to try to get my bearings and discovered to my surprise and relief that I could catch scents the way I was supposed to, the spirit layered over the physical world. The ability didn't even seem to be dulled by my gigai... er, body.

:_First order of business_,: I told myself looking around and trying to scent the nearest human to me. :_Find something to cover up with._:

I was in the bad end of town, this was evidenced by the graffiti scrawled over every available surface in spray-paint and the older model cars propped up on cinder blocks and the broken glass sparkling in the flickering streetlamps. Nearby I scented humans and the smell of trash being burned. Probably homeless. There were other humans about, too, slightly better washed ones. I headed in that direction down a dark alleyway that led out to another deserted street and paused.

Two men were coming my way wearing clothes that identified them as belonging to a particular sect of people. Their skin was painted with a long series of tattoos that were not nearly so cool as Zabimaru's had been. I noted two things in a quick glance, well three actually if you counted my automatic assessment that I could take them easily. One was that their clothes were warm, and the other was that they were threatening a mortal woman. More importantly, their clothes looked warm and I wasn't likely to get insects from them.

"... haven't been paying yer upkeep on time bitch, I'd hate to see somethin' happen to yer brat on his way back from school," one thug was saying.

:_Low-rank thug, weak enforcer for the protection racket_,: I assessed with a curl of my lip.

Sure, every one of those sorts carried guns these days but that didn't really worry me much. A wimp was a wimp. The sorts of enforcers who visited helpless women and threatened kids were the lowest of the low, even other enforcers pissed on 'em. So there was no problem then.

"Hey assholes," I called over in a friendly sort of manner, a feral smile of anticipation spreading over my face.

It had been a pretty shitty day for me and I was looking forward to a good brawl for getting all this pent up irritation out of my system.

"Who the fuck are you?" one of them asked me, turning to eye me.

He stared after noticing I wasn't wearing any clothes.

"I don't give my name to low-rank pissants before I beat the shit out of them," I informed him.

I pulled back and let fly. I made my heart feel good when I got a nice solid connection with his jaw. Before he could go down, I grabbed his shirt front and backhanded him, _hard_, with my other hand. I pulled the gun from his pants and chucked it behind me, then kneed him in the groin, twice. His friend finally got his shit together and swung at me, so I shoved the guy I'd just bitch-slapped into the new attacker hard enough to send 'em both to the ground. The second asshole tried to reach into his waistline for his own piece and but didn't get a chance to before I took a running leap and stomped down on top of the first guy. I loved the sound of ribs cracking in the morning.

"The fuck you think you are hero?" one of the guys demanded of me from around a bleeding lip. "You think yer just gonna pick a fight with us to keep that woman safe. We'll cut her and her kid."

I felt a dark part of me coil up as I seriously considered just killing them, but murdering people who pissed me off just wasn't my style, so I said instead

"I don't have anything to do with the woman. I just don't like you and I want yer clothes."

I took the bottom guys head and bashed it hard enough into the side walk that he lost consciousness. It probably wouldn't do any permanent damage. Probably. The guy on top of him was treated to my fist for as long as it was fun fer me ta beat the crap out of him. Normally I'd be the first to say that you didn't get stronger by picking on weaker assholes but I was willing to make an exception for them.

Once they were well and truly unconscious I picked out the guy who was closest to me in size and stripped his unconscious body down to his drawers. The clothes were still a little short in the leg and not quite broad enough for my shoulders but I supposed that beggars couldn't be choosers.

I stood up over their prone forms and thought maybe I should tie them up in humiliating positions just fer kicks but decided against it, for one thing it was a waste of time (however amusing) and second, I was still a lieutenant and I had my position to uphold. I'd wasted enough time on them already.

"E-excuse me," a quavery voice said from off to my right.

It was strange but the voice sounded oddly familiar, not someone I could place that I _knew_, just one that reminded me of someone I knew.

"What missy?" I demanded.

I didn't have time to play escort when I wasn't lookin' to, she should know better than ta go walkin' around in a place like this in the middle o' the night. Women. Not the common sense god gave a canary.

"Are you crazy? Those men work for Chiano," she said. "As soon as they wake up you're going to have a hit put on your head."

I snorted. I wasn't planning on sticking around and besides that, no human gang-lord was going to scare me.

"I mean it, you could be in serious trouble!"

I actually looked over at her and startled with an awkward squawk of surprise. The superficial details were sort of different, like her skin was ethnic-bronze and her eyes were obsidian instead of indigo, but the woman I'd just saved looked exactly like an older version of Rukia. For one wild moment in all the confusion of my situation, I thought _was _her, that Rukia had inexplicably found me. But no... one more glance was all it took to show me that she was another person entirely.

I breathed in, about to tell her not to worry about me when I got one good whiff of her soul-scent and froze, stock-still and speechless. I _knew _this scent. I had smelt it a time or two before when I'd been over at the Kuchiki Manse and, unable to control my curiosity, had poked my head into the quarters of the former mistress of the manse. Hisana Kuchiki. There was no fooling my tracking abiity, and even if she hadn't looked like an eerily exact copy of her death photo, she'd have still _smelled _like that room.

:_Rukia's gonna flip_,: I thught around my numbed state of shock.

I'd just stumbled across the reincarnation of her older sister Hisana.

* * *

**Haahhh, how many of you saw that one coming? It's sorta funny, even though she got maybe ten minutes of screen-time total in the series including her little debut in the movie, I can't help feeling drawn to Hisana Kuchiki. I don;t know why. So, well, the other majorcharacter makes her debut, please look forward to seeing more of her.**

**I did the (shudder) math, people, and discovered that with all the chapters still yet to come, posting a new one up twice a week just isn't going to cut it. We'd be here for months if I tried, so guess what? Provided I have the time, you all get an upgrade. Three chapters a week. Hopefully anyway. The last-minute formating and editing can be a bit of a pain, but we'll see how it goes. **

**As always, I hope you enjoyed the latest instalment and please read and reveiw. Until next time!**

**~Nightheart.**


	19. Wong Wei

"Are you okay, do you need help?" she asked, looking concerned. "What are you doing wandering around naked?"

Well, I couldn't very well tell her the truth could I? So I quickly turned it around on her.

"What about you?" I replied. "What in the world are you doin' out in the middle of the night in a place like this?"

Her face clouded over and her eyes got twice as big. That ingrained directive that told me to comfort Rukia when she was in any sort of pain reared up and before I knew it I was reaching out to touch her and tell her everything was gonna be alright. The woman was a stranger however and she saw my movement and flinched back, eying me suspiciously.

"Eh-heh," I said, smiling that bright, harmless smile I used on the nurses in Fourth.

I backed off and raised my arms to show I meant no harm.

"Sorry, it's just that, you... y'know, ya looked upset."

"I'm looking for my son," she said gravely. "He didn't get off the bus this afternoon and no-one's seen him."

:_Son_?: I thought, momentarily taken aback.

Hisana Kuchiki had spent all her time looking for her little sister so she hadn't had time to have children, it seemed a little strange to hear the words "my son" from her, but I realized a moment later that there was nothing strange about it... this was Hisana Kuchiki's _reincarnation_, not the woman herself. When people passed from one life to the next they went through The Lethe, where they forgot all about their previous lives and started in the world with a fresh clean slate, or mostly anyways. People said that they went from lifetime to lifetime on the Wheel of Rebirth making up for the mistakes of their past lives and making entirely new ones, and that the imprint of their past mistakes and attachments remained imprinted on their souls and personalities in their next lives. Not having been reincarnated I didn't know if this was accurate or not but it sorta made sense to me. I had heard that sometimes there could be a bit of a time lag between a soul's exitence in Soul Society and thier life in the Mortal Realm, I wasn't sure why or how it worked entirely, Kira thought that it had something to do with the Soul needing to find specific circumstances for its next life so that it's soul could grow, but it certainly explained why Hisana was not a fifty0year old mortal woman. The woman before me was not _actually _Rukia's older sister, she wouldn't even remember her previous afterlife in the Soul Society as the wife of the head of one of Soul Societies highest noble clans who searched in vain for the sister she'd abandoned in the slums to survive on her own. She was merely a mortal woman now, so it would be silly to have any expectations of her previous life of her.

:_So, the Captain's former wife has a son huh? If he's gone missing... man, she must be worried sick_.:

A small, petty, completely unworthy part of me felt deep down that it served her right but I quickly shook it off. It certainly did _not _serve her right. I knew that if I were in her position I'd be tearing the place apart stone by stone looking for him; but I was a man and a warrior... Missy here was a tiny and kinda delicate-looking woman, she shouldn't be out alone at night, something bad could (and very nearly did) happen to her.

Didn't they have other humans who dealt with that sort of thing? I kinda remembered that they did.

"Have you tried the police?" I asked her next.

"Of course!" she said clearly nettled. "But they say he has to be missing for a certain amount of time and he only just went missing this afternoon. They thinks he's out with his friends playing video games and just forgot to call, but my Alex is a good boy, he would never run off somewhere and worry me. I thought I'd try to find him myself but..."

She glanced back behind her to where the two still unconscious forms of the guys I'd just beat up were still slumped over.

"Right, gotcha, might be a little dangerous just lookin' around fer the kid on yer own. A boy's not the only sort that can go missin' in a place like this. You should be more careful."

The woman straightened her spine and looked up at me with that fearless and determined look that Rukia sometimes got when she was going to do what she was going to do and nothing would get in her way and said with just a touch of regality

"I shall take that under advisement."

In reply, my stomach rumbled. The woman, the Hisana reincarnation, looked over at me and around the lines of strain and worry on her face she smiled for what was probably the first time all day.

"You must be hungry," the woman said. "You really helped me out there, even if it seems you did it for your own reasons. The least I can do is feed you."

"Sure. Thanks," I said, still a little overwhelmed by the situation.

I hadn't really been _hungry _since I'd been a kid, and hungry sure felt different when you were mortal.

"I'm Renji, by the way," I said.

I didn't add on Sixth Squad Lieutenant because I didn't want her to think I was crazy, otherwise she might not feed me.

"Isana," she replied, smiling a small smile up at me.

She really did look a lot like Rukia. The similarity made me feel sorta comfortable around her.

"Nice ta meetcha," I said falling into step beside her on her way back to where she lived and glaring menacingly at anyone who so much as looked sideways at us.

"How did you come to be running around naked in the middle of the night?" she asked next.

Her voice was pleasant and mellow, with a very slight accent that suggested she might be bi-lingual.

"Capper on a real shitty day," I replied, allowing her to draw her own conclusions.

"That must have been some capper," she replied.

We approached the front steps of a run-down brick building with just as many windows boarded up as had lights shining out of them. There was more graffiti scrawls painted over the brick. The Hisana-reincarnation lived in a really rough-looking neighborhood, I could hear the distant wail of police sirens and hanging out on the stoops of nearby buildings were all sorts of people who looked down on their luck in one way or another. There were small knots of tough-looking men killing time and smoking things that probably were not legal by human law, women with clothes too revealing on bodies too skinny with wild eyes and uncombed hair walked by. On a nearby corner the subtle, sheilded movements of some kind of illegal deal going down between two people.

:_Heh, just like Hangdog_,: I thought to myself with a feeling of pity for the woman.

In contrast to the place she lived in, Isana looked like a bastion of cleanliness and normality. Her long, black hair was shiny and well-kept up, braided in a neat plait down her back and not left uncombed and uncared-for like a lot of the women on the streets nearby. Her hands were neatly groomed and the clothes she wore, while not the best certainly were all clearly carefully chosen from what options she had to accentuate her frame with a neat, sophisticated look that was both practical and elegant. And it wasn't so much the clothes she wore and the minimal make-up, it was the way she wore them; she was poised and refined, her movements were economic but smooth. She was a classy girl who stood out from the rough around her like a polished gem. No wonder even the Kuchiki had been gone on her, it looked like that elegance was part of her soul.

"Well here we are," she said leading me inside and up a narrow rickety stair case that my weight made creak dangerously, down a creaky, cold hall and up to a wooden door with about twenty locks on it. She took out a ring of keys and got to work.

"Home sweet home."

:_Talk about yer steps down_,: I thought to myself, mentally comparing it to the massive wealthy elegance that was the Kuchiki residence in her previous life. Someone must've had to cash in some major karmic negative brownie points for ditching her little sister.

I looked around the tiny dingy apartment once she got all of the locks turned over and the door opened. There wasn't much, a mattress with covers on it on the floor in a tiny alcove with clothes hanging up above the "bed". There was an equally tiny kitchen area laid out against the back wall, a rickety card table with a phone on it and a dented file cabinet that held a collection of framed photo's. I couldn't steal food from this woman's table, especially if she had a kid!

"I uh, just remembered that I, um, I don't need to eat right now."

My stomach growled loudly in protest, making a liar out of me.

"Don't be silly," she insisted. "After your getting those two men off my back, it's the least I can do for you. Besides, I haven't eaten all day either and I want to check and see if the police have gotten back to me yet or not."

She pushed the button on the machine and listened to the messages play while she walked over to the kitchen area and pulled out a few packets of top ramen from the cupboard and a medium sauce pan from the bottom cupboard.

"I should warn you that I'm a bad cook, but I haven't managed to ruin ramen yet," she said. I smiled a little at that and replied

"I don't know that it's _possible _to ruin top ramen. Ya can't burn water."

She was trying to hide her disappointment at not hearing any messages about her son. I walked over to the nearby file cabinet and looked at the photos there. There was one of what was clearly a younger Hisana/Isana with two adults smiling. There were several of a baby growing to a little boy that had a vaguely familiar feel to him, not anything in the way he looked directly (he did take strongly after his mother) but just as though there was something about him I should recognize.

She moved around her kitchen with poise and confidence, so having already looked at everything else the tiny run-down joint had ta offer I examined her covertly. She was a small woman, but she had the curvy figure that was usual for hispanic women of her size. She wore fitted jeans and an ordinary top but there was something about the way she wore them that made the common clothes seem like something fit for a queen. Her face was an eerie copy of Rukia's, painted subtly with make-up, but there were other differences too. Her hair was longer for one, thick and black an in a long braid down to her waist. When she looked up, I noted, she looked a person straight in the eyes and maybe I was projecting what I expected to see onto her, but it seemed to me that she had an aura of dignity and elegance about her that belied her humble surroundings.

"Do you like beef or chicken flavor?" she asked me next.

"I like either, I'm not picky," I said. Which was true.

"So, Mister Renji, what is it you do when you're not beating up thugs for their clothes?"

"Paperwork, mostly," I said honestly, wondering exactly what I was supposed to tell her about myself.

"Funny," she said looking over at me consideringly.

Those eyes of hers were even more bottomless and knowing than Rukia's were, and it was just a little creepy the way she seemed to just look right _into _me.

"You don't strike me as the paper-pusher type," she said honestly.

Even without the tattoos I guess there was something about me that said "brawler!" in bold letters, well good.

"I'm not," I said, amazed at her perception.

Then again, it probably wasn't that hard to tell that I wasn't much of an office worker. I didn't have the non-existant musculature of one for certain, and most office boys couldn't beat up two thugs without breaking a sweat.

"So what do you file papers for... money laundering, cooking the books?"

I blinked at her for a moment and considered the source. Those were probably the only sorts of paperwork jobs around here after all. That or drug dealing. Maybe gamblin.

"Well, I do investigations as well," I said carefully.

"You're a PI? Can you find my son?"

She told me quickly exactly where he went to school, how he got home, who his friends were, where he hung out, his interests and then detailed all of the places she'd already been and the people she'd already asked for work of her boy that day. She was thorough. This woman knew everything about her son and his habits, it was almost strange. She assured me that whatever my fee was ,she'd figure out a way to make payments. I couldn't get a word in edgewise. I felt bad for her. Finally she slowed down a bit and looked at me, tense with hope that I'd help her.

"I'm not that kind of investigator," I said with a reluctant sigh.

Her eyes looked absolutely crushed, and my instinctive response to seeing that look on Rukia's face surfaced and prompted me to say before I even thought about it.

"But if you have somethin' o' his, like somethin' he handles all the time or wears a lot, I c'n track him down fer ya."

:_Renji, ya dumbass_!: I berated myself an instant later.

I shouldn't be gettin' any more involved in this mortal's life, I had my own problem ta deal with, namely, figuring how how the hell I'd got turned mortal and figuring out a way to reverse it.

"Really?" her face was torn between hope and puzzlement. "How?"

She looked at me a little oddly, it was the same look that most people got when people started mentioning the supernatural around them, like it had nothing to do with them.

"Ya probably wouldn't believe it," I said.

I started slurping on the ramen she set before me with a will. It wasn't first class food but I was too hungry ta care, I'd certainly eaten worse in my day.

"Try me," she said, staring at me with those bottomless eyes from out of Rukia's face. It was exactly the same face that Rukia gave me when she wasn't bout to be sidetracked or dissuaded.

"Okay," I said shortly.

She had fed me after all. Besides, maybe if I started mentioning soul-scents and spirits she'd decide I was a nut job and try to get rid of me. That suited me fine, I had a mystery of my own to unravel after all.

So I told her the relevant part of the truth; that I was a man who could pick up on the individual scents of the soul and track them down the way a dog could follow a scent with his nose. I left out all the stuff about me being a Soul Reaper trapped in a mortal body who's zanpaktou was missing in action. If I ran across another Reaper in my current state, they wouldn't bother asking questions they'd take me straight back to the seireitei and lock me up in the tower before they debated on a good time for my execution. I'd kill myself before I'd ever let that brat and his friends rescue me. Hang myself by my own hair if necessary.

Isana/Hisana looked skeptical. So I raised my hands as if it didn't matter to me either way.

"You asked me and I told you," I said, putting it in her hands. "You don't have to believe me if you don't want to."

"...I believe you," she said quietly. "And not just because of what you said about... y'know the soul thing."

She leaned forward intently, like she was about to impart a secret.

"I can see spirits."

I blinked at her. It made sense, her sister Rukia had reiatsu out the yin-yang, she was one of the better kido fighters I knew. She could throw out two hado spells one right after the other without even needing to chant, it made sense that her sister would have the kind of spirit energy necessary to allow her to see the unseen (in this world).

"You don't believe me," she said flatly, misinterpreting my expression.

"It's not that," I said quickly.

"Really?" she asked partly suspicious and partly hopeful.

"Yeah," I said mulling with part of my mind the implications of my accidental discovery.

Should I tell Rukia about her when i got back to the Seireitei... if I got back to the Seireitei? What about the captain? This was his dearly beloved wife after all, didn't he have a right to know?

:_But she doesn't remember her life in the Soul Society, no mortal does_,: I reminded myself.

That was part of the deal it seemed, one lived their lives over and over again, paying for the mistakes in the last one and making new ones. Seemed damned unfair. I was always sorta glad I'd joined the Academy and taken myself out of that cycle of life, death and rebirth. Until now, that was. I didn't know exactly how much of me was really mortal, could I find a way to get popped back out of my body and regain my true form the way the kid did?

:_What a pain_,: I thought to myself.

I didn't want the body at all. Mortality was for mortals and I was a Soul Reaper.

"So what is it then?" she asked, interrupting my musing on my new situation.

I paused, bringing my thoughts back to the matter at hand.

"It's a long and strange story," I said evasively. "Let's just find yer kid."

She didn't need to be told twice. She quickly crossed the apartment, opening a door to a tiny back room with what I could see was covered in posters with a small bed along the wall near the door. She rummaged around in it for a long moment and came back with a small keychain with a golden bat on it.

"Alex's team won the local tournament between youth centers last fall and they gave out this to all the teamates along with the trophy," she explained. "He carried it in his pocket every day since then, except for this morning when he forgot and left it on the table. It's his good luck charm."

"That'll work perfectly," I said, holding a hand out for it.

I tried to ignore the heartfelt worried look in her eyes as she handed the luck piece over to me. It seemed I was her best hope for finding her son. Well, I guess it was one way to pay back a meal. I breathed in the scent that practically saturated the little charm and didn't even have to bother sorting it out in the back of my mouth, there was really only one dominant scent on it. I got to my feet and walked out of the apartment. The woman grabbed her jacket and followed me. I turned to look over at her in surprise.

"Where are you going?" I asked her.

She looked up at me, a quiet look of mulish determination on her face.

"I'm coming with you to find my son," she said firmly.

Rukia wore that same look on her face from time to time, and when she did there wasn't a damn thing in this or any other world that was gonna talk her out of whatever she'd put her mind to. That was half of what had killed me so much during her execution, it was bad enough that the people we worked for were gonna kill my Rukia, but it was so much worse for me to watch her give up. It was a little strange seeing that determined look of Rukia's on the face of someone who was essentially a stranger. I couldn't say no to that look. Besides, if she was with me she'd get to see her boy that much sooner.

"Let's go then," I said, shrugging with my voice.

We walked out of the apartment and she locked up behind her and I started following the scent down out of the apartments building. Since he frequented the place so often, his scent was pretty much every where starting out. I lost it at the edge of the street and caught a scent of a large transportation machine they had here in the Mortal World. I'd learned to despise them a long time ago. They completely made tracking a trail more difficult.

"He got on the bus to go to his school," she informed me. " I saw him off myself before I went to work."

I nodded and set off in the direction she indicated. The streets and sidewalks were mostly empty, except for a few very late night stragglers, many of which looked plainly like they weren't up to anything good. I got an offer from one woman even as we walked by without making eye contact. The school was only a few blocks away and it suited the neighborhood; everything was run down ragged and tired. You could tell that they'd made efforts to keep the place up, but considering the surroundings the efforts were half-hearted at best. We jumped over the fence that surrounded the darkened school and I tested the winds, trying to pick up a trace.

* * *

**Well, I must say, I am overwhelmed by the love! T_T and tears of joy stream down my face like waterfalls! So happy! Thank you very much everyone, I hope you're looking forward to the next chapter it'll be up soon.  
**


	20. Robin Hood

I hated tracking in the cities, they were dirty, and the air stank of machines and nastiness in the air. Worse still was just the sheer press of people all the time moving around, it made it very difficult to wade through all of the scents. Still, I cased the grounds slowly, carefully weeding through all of the scents of the people who were there on a regular basis, building their impressions up layer upon layer like an extra skin of soul-scents. It was when I hit the baseball diamond in the small park in back of the school that I at last hit paydirt. He scent showed through clearly there, vibrant and well. He was healthy when he'd been there last and I told her so.

Then I stopped abruptly as my senses picked up another scent, one that was swiftly becoming very familiar to me. Not spirit, not Hollow, and not Soul Reaper, the scent of incense and burnt metal filled my nose, almost making me sneeze. A Shadow had been here, and very very recently. That scent was fresher than a daisy. With a sinking feeling of dread I backtracked and caught the most recent scent of her kid and followed it very carefully to the edge of the park.

"Yer kid see's 'em too, doesn't he?" I said to her, my tone betraying that I expected the answer to be a yes.

"What, spirits? Yes, as clearly as I do. It's one thing we share, for us it's as clear as seeing a normal person. We even have trouble, sometimes, telling the difference between the two right away."

I nodded to myself. The kid had seen something and walked to the edge of the park, I could smell his scent as strongly as the Shadow I'd picked up. There was another cold spot and the lingering odor that came when a portal between the mortal world and this one was opened. I could smell her kid's scent and the Shadows...

Could he have been taken?

In the Rukongai everyone, including me, had just assumed that the kids who disappeared from a visit from the Shadows were simply consumed, all of their reiatsu drained and their bodies destroyed, but what if that wasn't the case? I was the only person I knew who had been in a fight with a Shadow and what had happened to me when I'd been absorbed into it? I'd gotten taken to the mortal world and turned mortal. What if the Shadows weren't consuming the spirit energy, but were really instead just kidnapping the kids with it and taking them someplace else?

The significance of something else hit me too. I had assumed that, because all of the other kids had disappeared from the Rukongai that it was the only place where people were disappearing from, but this kid had been attacked by a Shadow in the mortal realm while he was still very much alive. That meant that the Shadows were attacking spirits and mortals alike without regard to which world they found themselves in.

"You said he could see spirits like you," I said, as something occurred to me.

Not all of the kids with spiritual powers in the Rukongai had been taken, the girl in the child-gang hadn't been and she had been sleeping in the same room as the boy who'd disappeared. There had to be something I was missing here. Something to do with why they were being taken at all.

"Yes?" she asked, still looking at me hopefully.

"Did he have any other abilities? I mean, besides just seeing ghosts, could he do anything else?"

Well..." she said a little reluctantly, glancing self-consciously around her. "He could, um..."

Her face scrunched up in that cute way Rukia's always had when she was trying to puzzle her way through something. It usually didn't take her long, she was smarter than me.

"When he was a kid he had this outlaws of Sherwood phase, you know, like Robin Hood? He would always pretend to be Robin Hood with a bow and arrow, I didn't think anything of it until one day there was a shooting about half a block away. We heard the gunshots go off, and I grabbed him and threw him down to keep him safe. We look up and there in his hand was this... it flickered there for only a few seconds, but it looked like a bow with a matching arrow made out of pure light."

I stared at her intently.

"Was it blue-white light?" I asked, nearly shaking her by the shoulders.

"How did you--?" she started but I didn't hear her.

A ranged weapon made of spiritual energy meant only one thing to me...

A Quincy. Her son was a Quincy.

Zanpaktou choose their wielders when they are bestowed, and a bond between the spirit of the sword and the spirit of the Soul Reaper was formed when the Soul Reaper took up the sword, but as far as I knew a Quincy's power was born into his own soul, innate within that person and was concentrated through those funny medalions they used.

:I thought Quincies were all of the same Clan,: I thought confused.

Just to double check and be certain I wasn't crazy, I sniffed deeply of the keychain that Isana had given me to track him. I very definitely detected the undercurrent of that power signature that Ichigo's Quincy-friend Uryuu Ishida had; it smelled of fresh cotton sheets and ozone. A weird combination but unmistakable. My nose didn't lie about things like this and I had yet to come across a situation where my tracking skill was unreliable.

The kid was a Quincy. Impossibly.

:_But I thought Ishida was the last_,: was my only puzzled thought.

He was always going on and _on _about how the Soul Society had killed off his clan and how he hated Soul Reapers and he was the last of Quincy and blah blah blah. Sure, it was true, but the Quincies had been destrying the balance and it was a Soul Reapers job to maintain the balance of souls between the living and the dead. The two were kinda mutually exclusive there. Besides, it's not like I had anything to do with it, all that nonsense happened centuries before I'd ever even joined the academy.

I shook my head to clear it and brought my mind back on track. If what I was smelling was true and Isana's son was in fact a Quincy, how had he gotten there? And more to the point, were the Shadows targeting Quincies?

:_I don't know nearly enough_,: I thought, frowning.

"Where's my son?" she demanded, scowling at me. "I'm warning you, if you dragged me all the way out here as a joke or part of some sick game I'll... I'll bash in all of your windows with a tire iron and come after your kneecaps next."

I looked over at her unhappily. It was bad news, all of it, and I didn't even know where to begin to explain most of it. Seeing spirits was one thing, but telling her about the Soul Society and the Soul Reapers and the Quincies and this new enemy that I'd run across was straining the lines of credulity way past anything that even a sucker would accept. Still, I had to try. The only way to get her son back was to track down the thing that had taken him back to wherever the hell it laired. I didn't even know what it was for certain, much less how to find it.

"I've got his scent but yer not gonna like it... or believe me most likely," I said, art of my tone simply resigned. She'd probably just leave me there or call the cops. Or the mental institute.

"My son can summon a little bow that shoots little arrows made of light. Try me," Isana said, meeting my eyes directly. She wasn't about to be put off.

I sighed and started to tell her as concisely as possible about the Soul Reapers and their mission. About the Quincy Clan, and that her son had the scent of their spiritual power. Winding up the recitation with a recounting of my newly discovered Shadow threat and the fact that I scented that one had been there recently in the park and that her son's scent was mingled with it.

There was a long, angry silence when I had finished. She was pissed. I could tell because that was how Rukia looked when she was about to rip out my spleen. She opened her mouth to yell at me and I cut her off.

"Don't bother," I said wearily. "I c'n see ya don't believe me so I'll just stop wasting time here for both of us. I gotta get started on finding a way to get my own mess undone and get back to my post, before my boss finds me here and kills me himself. I'll walk you back to your apartment and we can go our separate ways and call it a done task."

I hated leaving her there without her kid and without any real hope of getting him back. But what else could I do? She wasn't going to believe the truth because it was just too far-fetched and I couldn't make her believe it, so...

"Good luck," I said. "I hope I'm wrong and the police find that he was just out playing video games all day."

I turned to head back and noted that she didn't follow me.

"Mister Abarai," she said quietly into the night. "I can sense you're a good person, and that you're not lying to me. You really believe everything you say. So either you're delusional, which let me tell you after everything you just told me, I'm more likely to believe, or you're telling me the truth."

I looked over at her, she had a sort of clever look in her eyes.

"So I've got a little test for you," she said.

"What kinda test?" I asked warily. She couldn't ask me to turn into a Soul Reaper because I couldn't do it yet, I needed a gokantekkou for that. I was stuck in this mortal body until I figured out a way to get out of it.

"What does a Soul Reaper look like?" she asked simply, looking at me expectantly.

I didn't see how there was any harm in answering her, so I said

"Well, for the most part, they look like everyone else, except that they wear black shihakushou with a white layer underneath it. A white belt for my zanpaktou. Some others wear accessories like scarves or turtlenecks but I never bothered."

I was strange, my shihakushou and I had always had a sort of love-hate relationship, I wasn't all that happy at having to wear it but as a Soul Reaper it was either that or go naked. It was surprising how much I missed having it on me now that I didn't have one.

"Well good then, you passed," she said simply.

I looked at her in shock. Her slightly smug smirk reminded me so much of Rukia.

"...all of a sudden?" I asked, surprised.

"I saw one a time or two," she told me. "The first time I ever saw one it was fighting some kind of monster. She just slashed at it with her sword and it disappeared. No-one else was able to see her but me."

I wondered if it was anyone I knew.

"The second time I saw one was when I went to visit a wandering soul that was haunting a crossroads after an accident. She did something with the handle-end of her sword and the soul smiled this really peaceful smile and faded out. I'd seen the one from before wearing that same uniform so I figured there must be more like that but I never saw any. Do you have a uniform too?"

"I do, or I did... until tonight I did," I said. "That's why I was naked, the shihakushou is part of my real form, my spirit form, and when that Shadow thing turned me mortal I arrived in this world... ah, as nature intended."

She gave me a pitying look even as she seemed to find it amusing.

"So that's why I beat up those guys for their clothes," I said. "That, and I was feeling irritated and they had it comin' to 'em."

"How are we going to find my son?" she asked next.

"We?" I questioned her. "You haven't known me for very long and for all you know I could be crazy, what's with this 'we' thing?"

"The way I see it you're my best shot at finding Alex, so you'd beeter believe I'm going to be sticking to you like a burr until you do."

"I could have been making it all up," I pointed out obstinately, more because i didn't want her getting any more tangled up in my mess than she had to be.

But you weren't, I can tell when people are lying Mister Renji," she said, looking at me with that peircing look that the Healers of Fourth sometimes gave a person, more like they were looking into a person than at them.

"So, how are _we_ finding my son?"

I thought about it. There was a lot going against us. I had been the one to discover them, and, aside of my captain and a few others, no-one was even aware of the existence of the Shadows. Before this mortal nonsense happened to me I'd had only had a few slender clues to go on, and those were more speculation and guess-work than actual fact. I could track a Shadow up to the point where it crossed worlds but how was I supposed to be able to track it after it left the world I was in? I had no idea where they went or even how they were able to cross worlds with almost no ripples for Soul Reapers pagers to pick up on.

"I dunno, gimme a little while ta think about it," I said, sitting down on a nearby bench and looking up.

I could track a human soul. I could track a Shadow because I knew what one smelled like. I didn't know for certain, but I thought that a Shadow was somehow related to the Believed. The Believed had once lived in the human world, often inhabiting shrines and temples...

:_Hey, there's a thought_,: I thought hopefully.

No-one seemed to know much about the spirit-beings they called the Believed, but it stood to reason that those spirit beings might know something about _each other._ If I could find one in the human world, and there _had _to be some of them still hanging around, I could ask them for some information.

"Do ya know where there's a shrine or a temple around here?" I asked.

"It's three in the morning Mister Abarai,"she said her tone reflecting that she had noted my lack of common sense. "None of the shrines and temples will be open."

"Oh," I said, disappointed.

Well there went that then. Isana sighed and after a few more moments of silence she reluctantly admitted

"It looks like we'll just have to wait until the morning. I've been running ragged all day long, I won't be able to find my son if i'm collapsed from exhaustion."

She looked like she was forcing herself. She clearly did not want to be sensible at all but on the other hand she seemed to know that it was the wiser course. I hated being sensible too, it was not something that I was good at. I wanted to be out on the hunt, finding a way to get rid of the mortal shell I was stuck in and back in my Soul Reaper form where I belonged. I was caught by a yawn and realized that I was exhausted. My body felt even heavier than usual, and my eyes were starting to close.

"I guess you're right," I said grudgingly.

I didn't want to give in so easily either, but I was tired and it had been a long and hellish day for me. Maybe I'd go to sleep and wake up to find this had all been a bad dream.

"Do you have a place to stay?" she asked next.

No way was I staying at her place. If word of it ever reached my boss, I'd be dead.

"Uh, yeah, sure," I lied. She looked right into me and said

"You're lying. Come on, it might not be much but it's a roof over your head and a blanket. You're staying at my place."

I opened my mouth to argue stupidly about it and she just shut me down with Rukia's _look_, the one that said "shut up, you're not getting anywhere" so I closed my mouth and followed behind her like a good little stray dog.

I was talked into a shower and borrowing her absent son's bed for the night. It was too small for me and my feet hung off the end but beggars couldn't be choosy and I had no cash to rent a place to sleep for the night. I was back to being a moocher it seemed.

:_She sure does trust easily_,: I thought on the edge of an exhausted slumber.

For all she knew I could just be some con man trying to run a game on her, or worse a guy trying to get into her house and steal everything she owned, or serial killer or a rapist. Taking in strangers when she was a single woman living alone wasn't a very safe practice, especially when they claimed crazy stories like mine. It was a little odd that she was so credulous of me. Then again... she did sort of seem to have a way of knowing whether a person was telling the truth or not. Part of that might be because I was a terrible liar, but somehow i didn't think so. There was a lot more to Miss Isana than met the eye.

* * *

**As set-up chapters go, I've done better, but in the next post we'll finally be getting somewhere. Prepare for the emergence of... Daikon-san! Okay, he's a one-shot cameo for the purposes of exposition but I think he's kinda fun. I hope you look forward to it.**


	21. Information Seeking

**Exposition ahoy!

* * *

**

Morning dawned too early but I was up with the sun and ready to go. Isana was up before even me, looking like she hadn't gotten a wink of sleep that night.

:_Duh, dumbass_,: I reminded myself. :_Her kid is missing, she probably didn't get any sleep_.:

We set out, taking a train to a nicer district when she guided me to a large building that looked a little like many of the buildings in the Seireitei. There were red tori in front of the gate and the entrance was being swept by an old man wearing hakama and gi. The sign and the entrance said Yamataro Shrine. I took in a breath, ostensibly to enjoy the morning air, but I was really testing for the presence of any kind of lingering spirit presence. There was the smell of incense, but it was the smell of actual incense and not the scent that accompanied a Shadow. The place did have a peaceful sort of feeling about it but nothing I could really put my finger on as belonging to a spirit being. I shrugged, it couldn't hurt to take a look around.

We entred the shrine (and I did feel a subtle tingle as we passed through a spitit barrier) and passed by the booths with fortunes and charms and headed over to the little house-shrines, where the kami were said to live. I thought about knocking on the tiny front door, but decided better of it. I tasted the air around the tiny little house with its sacred seals on it and did indeed detect the tiniest trace of a spiritual presence. It was fresh, not very strong and it didn't smell like anything I had ever picked up before. It looked like we were on the right track.

"Excuse me," I said at the little house-shaped shrine-box, going for politeness first.

My captain was always telling me that manners maketh men after all.

"If you wouldn't mind comin' outta there, I need to talk to ya."

I tried not to feel self-conscious as some people looked over and stared at the crazy red-haired guy trying to talk to the shrine. There was no answer to my tentative query from within, so I added

"Look, I know yer in there, so ya might as well come on out. I just need to ask you a few questions an' then we'll leave."

The door cracked a bit and a tiny face that most everyone else probably couldn't see poked its nose out. It looked like a daikon radish with arms and legs and a colorful little face on its topside. It blinked eyes that shone with a milky light at us and crept timidly forward.

"Can I help you?" the spirit asked me.

"Yeah," I said forthrightly. "I'm supposed to be a Soul Reaper but I got turned mortal. I need to know what you know about the Believed and if you, or anyone else you know, might know about this thing that's being called a Shadow--"

The little critter squeaked a high pitched sound of dismay and darted back into its little home, slamming the tiny door behind it.

:_Well, that was interesting_.:

It definately knew something.

"Hey!" I said, tempted to bang on the little box. "I just asked you a question!"

"Go 'way!" it shouted back at me. "I don't answer the inquiries of rude mortals. Especially when they ask about... _Them_!"

"That was a significant sort of _Them_," I asided to Isana.

She looked back at me and looked around.

"People are staring," she noted.

"Let 'em," I said absently.

To the spirit-critter I said

"I'm not going to leave you alone until you tell me where I can find out more about what the Shadows are and how to track 'em... and kill 'em of course."

There was a long pause and I said

"I'll bust up yer home if ya don't."

"Mister Abarai you can't threaten to destroy shrine property!" Isana admonished me.

"He don't know that," I muttered.

I waited another half breath and shook the little box, saying

"If you don't tell me what I wanna know, I'll pull out my zanpaktou and use the katsura technique to turn you into a peeled-daikon flower!"

"You wouldn't dare!" the little spirit squeaked from inside his box.

I had him.

"Try me ya little pipsqueak," I growled. "I've just had a couple o' really bad days and I am in a shitty mood bub, so spill it, or I'm gonna start takin' some o' my mood out on you."

"Eeep! Okay okay!" the little runt said. "I'll tell you what I know! Just don't hurt me!"

I smiled smugly, satisfied. Ya just had to know how ta talk to 'em right.

"I don't know a _whole _lot," the critter sniveled from inside.

"I'm small and weak even as my kind are judged," it added, peeking a timid nose out of its little shrine-home, and seeing us waiting without sign of threat now that it had decided to cooperate, tentatively emerged from its abode.

"The only thing I do is take care of any daikons grown in the area, and I'm bound to this shrine, I'm not powerful enough to move from it. The greater spirits never drop by any more, they're all probably busy doing thier power-politics in thier own realms or at the Great Courts, so I never hear any of the really good gossip. I'm a historian!"

"Just tell me what you know about the Shadows, like, what _are _they?"

"Well, they're _us_, basically," the little daikon said.

I waited.

"In order for you to understand, I guess I'll have to give you some history."

I hated scholarly stuff, but if I was gonna be fighting these assholes it would probably be a good idea to know what I was up against or I'd be in trouble later on.

"We nature spirits get power from two places," Daikon-san said. "The core of our power comes from our places of origin. A river spirit draws power from it's river, a mountain spirit draws power from it's mountain, a rain god is defined by wind and water, and so on," the little mite explained. "Long, long, long ago, before Humans came along in great numbers, nature spirits inhabited their own territories that were pristine of any influence."

It sounded very wistful about that.

"Before humans came along, it is said that all spirits were equal in power, but I don't know if that's true or not," Daikon-san continued. "Any way, what's important is that Humans began appear in greater numbers, and their spirits had a special power to them. When they concentrated their energy and put all of their wills into it, they could change things. They could change things in the material world, do things like build houses and move things using domesticated animals, and they could change things in the spirit world too. It didn't take long for a few enterprising spirits, ones who were dissatisfied with their lot in life and wanted more than just their own duties, to see this and to take advantage of it. They encouraged the humans around them to worship them. The act of worship, whether it's a prayer or a ritual dance or whatever, transfers power from the Human's spirit over to the Nature Spirit, adding onto that extra power that the Spirit already had."

I nodded, it sounded like a pretty good system for the Nature Spirit.

"As a Spirit gained more power over the generations of people worshiping it, they were able to do more and more things. Many of the powerful Nature Spirits would turn on the weaker ones and absorb their powers and territories, spreading thier influence through the world by using their human worshipers to spread the word of their power. This was when a change in the nature of the spirit world began to occur; the Nature Spirits that had always been bound to the land now had enough power to cast off their connections to the material world and use their own power to create their own realms in the Dangai, the chaotic realm of energy that exists outside of the mortal realm."

My brow furrowed in puzzlement. I'd always heard of the Dangai referred to as simply another realm that existed much the same way as the Mortal Realm and the Soul Society did. This spirit seemed to think that the Dangai was somthin' else than just a realm or a dividing place between worlds.

"Okay, explain that again," I said. "The Dangai is a realm, just like this Mortal Realm is a realm and the Soul Society is a realm, how can you make other realms inside of another realm?"

"You are mistaken Soul Reaper," the nature spirit said to me. "Dangai is not a mere realm it is..."

He paused.

"Picture an ocean that goes on forever in all different directions," he said. "That ocean is the Dangai. Now picture islands dotting the surface of the ocean in all different sizes with all different people living on them. Those islands would be the different realms. The Spirits, by using the great power that they had amassed from worship by the humans, could disconnect themselves from the Mortal Realm and create thier own islands where they could receive power and spirit-energy flowing from their former places of worship."

"Kind of like a feeding tube or an IV?" Isana guessed.

"That's a very good analogy young woman," Daikon-san said approvingly.

This was one spirit who clearly liked to talk and hadn't had anyone to talk to in a very long time.

"The Spirits that had amassed enough power to build thier own homes in the divine realms were named "gods" by the humans, and worshiped by people in large numbers," the radish spirit continued.

"The problem with relying upon the humans alone for power anymore was that they were influenced by the people they worshiped. When there came to be a clash among one group of people against another their "Gods" would fight as well across their realms in the Dangai. This went on for many many centuries, with many cultures inventing many gods and vying for supremacy."

"There's something I don't get," I said. "You said that powerful spirits built their own realms in the Dangai once they got enough power from bein' worshipped to write their own ticket out, if that's true then how did the Mortal Realm, which you've said predates Human and Spirit alike, how did that get in the Dangai?"

"The analogy of an ocean to describe the Dangai isn't entirely accurate Soul Reaper," the radish spirit said. "It's more like an ocean with a huge interconnected network of threads of power weaving through it. The places where many of these threads meet form Realms naturally. But back to the gods wars. For many many centuries these gods fought and politicked and married among themselves, taking on the characteristics of how they were worshiped and the people who worshiped them, but then a shift in the way people were worshiping occured over time. They began to stop worshiping individual gods. The way they thought of faith and what it meant to worship became more and more abstract, and there were influences by other mortal beings. Jesus, Mohamad, Bhudda, Zoroaster, philosophers, poets... all of them began to slowly bring the attention of the mortals away from the various gods they had worshiped for centuries and focused it on another manner of faith altogether. It wasn't true in all places, naturally; India for instance still has very powerful gods in it that retain their original forms and power. But there are no absolutes after all."

Yep. I had stumbled across a scholarly spirit alright.

"For the most part however, with the spread of the influence of these new ideas and the practice of strange new faiths that did not worship individual gods with individual characteristics, the power that fed into the realms of the gods individually began to wane and dry out. There was less power flowing from the Mortal Realm and this weakened the power of the god and its ability to maintain their lifestyle in their own realms. Centuries ago, the more powerful gods that there were left noticed the great waning in power and decided to seek out all other powerful spirits spread across the Dangai that had powers and abilities similar to their own, and hold a council to debate how they might retain that power which they still had. Out of these quorums came the idea to combine all of their powers and strengths. Thus was invented what came to be called the Great Courts. The most powerful of the gods became emperor and/or empress of the Great Courts and the gods with lesser abilities became their vassals. By combining the individual created realms with the other like-powered gods they pooled thier resources, and cut back on the energy requirements it took to maintain a comfortable life by centering their Courts around a Nexus Point in the lines of power. The result was something you would compare to a castle with many rooms."

I guessed I could kind of see that, the Seireitei was different, but the Soul Society was primarily concerned with the cycle of life and death and the transmigration of souls so it sort of stood to reason that for as long as people had been dying it had always existed in one form or another.

"Shortly thereafter, the human abstract religions became... aggressive. Most of the new types of faith would no longer tolerate the old ways and went about stamping out the places of old worship by using their swords and enforcing the new faiths upon the people who lived there."

I'd had to study human religion in the academy as part of the course load. It had bored me to tears. All the constant quibbling and deaths over stupid little things like names and words... and it wasn't like it mattered all that much anyway in the end. Humans were weird.

"This had the effect of creating an enormous decline in the spirit energy that the spirits received in the Mortal Realm, so much so that some of the ones who had grown powerful but had chosen to stay in the Mortal Realm, for whatever reason, now had no place that they could call their own. The names of the gods and Guardian spirits were erased from texts and the sites of their places of worship were destroyed or appropriated by the new religions. Human's had discovered a way to forcibly disconnect a spirit from its native place in the Mortal Realm and chivvy it off like an unwanted pest. This led to what is called the Great Exode. Most, in fact nearly all, of the powerful and less powerful spirits that had lived in the Mortal Realm gathered what power remained to them and used it to purchase a place to stay in the Divine Realms, just so they would not be destroyed with a cross-wielding priest rode through their lands and banished them as creatures of evil. Most spirits simply swore themselves as vassals to the more powerful gods who lived in Courts that suited their natures. So nowdays, the separation of the Mortal Realm from the courts in the Divine Realms is nearly complete... only a few stragglers, such as myself remain behind. I am not powerful, but likewise my home shrine has never been tampered with either."

He was unimportant enough to be overlooked, he meant.

"So what the heck does all this got ta do with the Shadows?!" I exploded in frustration.

The little shrimp had talked about everything _but _the Shadows dammit! I'd been standing there for twenty minutes listening ta him yammer on and _on _and still didn't have any answers.

"Everything," daikon-san said calmly. "The Shadows are godlings that refused to join a court, instead they desired to tough it out on their own, convinced that the new human faiths springing up were nothing more than a temporary phase that would pass."

People were still arguing about it so that hadn't happened.

"Only it wasn't just a phase, and maintaining a realm of one's own in the Divine Realms costs a great deal in terms of spiritual power. If a Spirit does not have the power pouring into them from worship, then the energy is taken from its own spiritual powers. Once their names are no longer spoken, and their powers and places are no longer remembered, then the forgotten god and the realm it lived in decline over time into a pale shadow of itself."

"Huh?" I asked.

"He means that the Shadows were once gods but they didn't have enough power to pay their rent, so they just faded into spectres."

"So then how did they get enough power to cross worlds like they've been doing all of a sudden?" I asked.

And more importantly, why now, all of a sudden?

"The Shadows are only a concern to other Nature Spirits and gods," Daikon-san said. "But since they are no longer powerful enough to be a threat to the Courts and they can't simply consume spirit energy from humans because Human Will is more powerful. They aren't a serious threat to anyone but a Nature Spirit, they can still attack us if we don't have strong enough barriers to hold them off."

I frowned deeply. That couldn't be right, the Shadows had been stealing kids left and right from Rukongai lately. So either there was something else that was masquerading as a Shadow, which I didn't think was likely given the fact that the Shadows smelled like temple incense. Or something had changed to give them greater power.

Aizen had escaped with a tiny shard of the hougyoku...

I shook my head, I'd leave speculations about means and motives to people who were better suited to it, there were only two things I wanted to know, how could I find a Shadow, and once found, how did I kill it?

"A Shadow, even weakened as it's power has become, is still a powerful spiritual entity," Daikon continued. "It's simply a matter of relative power now. They once commanded massive power at the height of their worship, but after the decline the power fed to them was stopped altogether. Even if they did not have the power to maintain their realms, the power innate to them is still considerable."

Sounded like a strong enemy to me. Good, I didn't like pickin' on wimps.

"So how do I find 'em?" I asked eagrely.

"That, I do not know," daikon-san said.

:_Figures_,: I thought.

He didn't know anything really useful. Justa buncha gobbledygook about old gods an' crap. Well shit! I coulda done without the freaking history lesson if I'da known it wasn't gonna tell me how to track down the bastard that turned me mortal an' kill it. I debated the mental satisfaction I'd get from smashing a hole in the roof of the little salad topping for wasting my time. Isana must've seen my change in temper for she put a gentle restraining hand on me and asked the daikon

"Is there anyone we can ask who might know?"

"A more powerful spirit than I am might know," Daikon said. "But I should warn you, more powerful spirits are not so easily intimidated as myself. You would do better to bribe them or offer to trade a service for information. There are some in this world still left that you don't want to get on the bad side of."

"Where would we find a more powerful spirit?" she asked next.

"There's a shrine int he nearby mountains you can try, the Spirit there is pretty friendly though he might fall asleep on you before you get an answer."

"Okay, well thank you for your time then," Isana said bowing low in polite benediction.

When she came up she gave me a significant look and signalled that I should do likelwise. I huffed a scoff, I wasn't gonna bow my head to some low-rank pipsqueak of a salad topping. She narrowed her eyes at me and there was such a weight to that look that I cleared my throat and almost against my will, bowed stiffly and said

"Yeah, thanks then."

"Good luck," the daikon said and the two of us departed.

* * *

**I tried to post a chapter on Saturday, I really did but FFN was not having any of my txt document formatting (yes, i use text, leemeealone). So I tried again on Sunday and it still wouldn't take it so I waited until I had today off then went through the long, boring process of copying and pasting all of my chapters into Word sheets. So annoying! Well anyway, I hope you all enjoyed and please let me know what you think!**


	22. In the Mortal World

"We're in luck," Isana said, her face showing a purposeful determination as she stepped up to the curb and hailed a cab.

"I know exactly the place the little spirit is talking about. I went and visited with Alex a few years ago as part of his school trip. I even spoke with the spirit there. Daikon is right, he falls asleep a lot."

It seemed she thought she was coming with me. She even gave directions to the nearest train station to the cabby. I'd better nip _that _in the bud before this went any further. I thought it was entirley too damn likely that there were gonna be some _daaark _places for me to walk in before all of this was through. I didn't wanna be draggin' along some mortal woman that I was just gonna have to waste time protecting when I should be concentrating on a good fight.

"Look missy," I said wanting to be clear so she wouldn't mistake me. "I know that he's yer son, an' I appreciate that you must be worried about him, but yer mortal. This ain't business fer mortals."

"So are you," was her tart rejoinder.

She fixed me with that mom-look. I didn't know what it was about that look, maybe some kind of magical effect from giving birth or something, but it shut me up instantly (and I know I'm not an easy guy to be made ta shut up, because people are constantly at me about it).

"And if you think you're leaving me behind when it concerns my baby boy you are sadly mistaken," she dded firmly. "I don't care what it takes, I don't care where we have to go or what kind of monster we have to face... I don't care if i have to walk strait into hell itself!"

I debated on whether or not to tell her that it might actually come to that at some point.

"I'm going with you and bringing my baby back home safely," she said with firm determination. "If I have to leave this world and travel to another that's what I'll do. I'm not going to let my son remain lost. I'll never leave anyone behind again."

Her ferocity took me by surprise for a minute, she always seemed so elegantly calm and placid. Apparently there was a mama lioness under all that silence.

I kinda understood now why she might be so driven, if what the boss had said about his wife being obsessed with finding the sister she'd abandoned in Hangdog to save her own skin was true, then it was the kind of thing that would carry over into the next life. She wasn't going to stop looking for her son even if threatened with death. I was her only lead and I could see just by lookin' at her that she was going to stick to me like a burr.

:_She **does **bring up a good point, though_,: I thought to myself as the scenery passed by in a blur. :_I'm not a spirit anymore, how am I supposed to get through the gate into the Dangai while I'm still stuck in a mortal body_?:

All the gates that I knew of led straight to the Seireitei. I didn't want to go there until I'd managed to get rid of this damned mortal body of mine. Call me crazy but I didn't want to find myself mistakenly sentenced to execution.

Isana gestured that I should pay the man from the two wallets I'd lifted from the guys I'd beat up last night. Now why didn't I realize that I had mortal money sooner? I felt a little chagrined about that. I thumbed through the thick stack of bills in each wallet, putting them all in one wallet and putting the useless one in a place that would tempt pickpockets. I looked over the money I had gotten, the low rank asshole might have been a wimp but he'd had a lot of money. Most of the bills were hundreds.

She ordered train tickets out to the countryside and used some of that mortal money I'd "won" (hey, spoils of war, right?) to pay for it. We also grabbed food from a nearby vendor in the station. It was something I'd never seen or heard of before that sounded like "peetzuh" and it didn't look like much, a triangular slice of thin baked bread covered with melted cheese and meats and vegetables. But then I took a bite of it.

:_Wow! So **goood**_!: I marveled to myself how something so simple could tate so amazing.

Granted, my new mortal body had a greater sense of the physical and material world than my spirit form (or even my gigai) did, but still... this was like, food of the _gods _or something! Isana looked amused as I quickly devoured the first slice she'd bought for me and went back for more. They came with different toppings on them too! Whoever had invented this stuff had been a genius.

"You eat that stuff just like my son," she said with a warm note of fondness in her voice. "He can finish off an entire medium deluxe all by himself and still have room for desert."

"There's desert?" I said, staring in amazement.

No wonder Rukia never wanted to leave the mortal world if it offered up stuff like this. Those vending machine things they had were neat enough, with that dispensing flavored drinks and snacks at the touch of a button, but to find out that there were even more wonderful things was just...

I polished off my slices, the savory flavors of all the combinations practically exploded on my tongue, and looked up at Isana hopefully. She rolled her eyes, looking amused and went to bring back desert. It was some kind of crusty, crumbly stick of bread with sticky frosted topping and brown stuff on it. I eyes it for a minute because it didn't look like anything I recognized as sweet and delicious. She popped a peice in her mouth to encourage me, so, not to be outdone or called a wimp, I tried it.

"Ihat's... really sweet," I managed after a moment. I would have said that it was too sweet, except that it was some how ballanced out by the taste of something savory and heavy, some kinda spice or sumthin'. It would never be manly to admit it and so I never did, but I'd always had a terrible sweet tooth, so the confection was gone pretty quickly.

:_Boy, if Rukia eats this sort of thing in the mortal world all the time, it's a wonder they don't have to roll her gigai around sideways_,: I thought. She loved sweet stuff, it was one of the things we shared in common. I supressed another pang of worry about being separated from her for who knew how long.

I thought again about trying to contact her, but unfortunately she was still in the Seireitei. Of all the times for her _not _to be in the field with that brat. I could stop by Ichigo's and tell him to pass the word on, but if I knew that kid, he'd insist on getting himself involved. I didn't want that, and not just because of pride either. (_Right, keep telling yerself that._) If he got involved, then Rukia would get dragged into my mess and her reputation still hadn't recovered from her last run-in with the execution grounds, if she were to be caught up in another mortality mess-up people would start saying she was jinxed. I might have tried some of those other humans that hung around the kid to get one of them to pass on the message, but... well, the little orange-haired girl was one soul shy of a menos, and that Ishida kid would probably sooner spit on a Soul Reaper than look twice at one, even me I'd bet. There was that Chad guy, but he wasn't one for talking, I didn't know if they'd ever get the message if I counted on him to do it for me. I'd sooner hang myself than go ask Ichigo or any of his friends for help, besides, I was already following a lead and if it panned out I wouldn't _need _to ask them. I was sort of in a hurry to ditch this body anyway.

:_I probably should try Urahara's_,: I thought.

I sorta wanted to, just so someone out there knew I was alive (_literally_, more alive than I wanted to be) and okay, and trying to make it back home. However there were a couple of reason's why trying to bug Urahara with this would be a bad idea.

If they hadn't had people watching the Urahara Shop before, they certainly had to by now. I wasn't so sure that Twelfth hadn't figured out a wire tap or I'd have simply called them from a payphone. Dropping by to buy a gokontekko, one of those skull things that shoot a Reaper right out of his giagai (or in Ichigo's case, his body) was out of the question, they'd be on me like a pigeon in a cattery.

:_Maybe if I write him a letter_,: I thought.

I could be vague but give enough clues about the sender that he'd be able to figure out who'd sent it. I could even use the secret code Rukia and I had invented in the Academy to pass notes to each other in. Yeah, that would work. There was one problem however, I didn't know the address of his shop, just that it was in Karakura town. Still, human's in this world always seemed to be able to find out information like that, so maybe Isana would know.

"Hey," I said, turning to her. "I need to write a letter to someone, but I don't have an address other than the city he lives in, could you do some kind of human thing and hunt it up for me?"

"No problem," she said easily with a shrug. "It should be on an online phone book. Give me some money and I'll pay to use a public portal and look it up for you."

I selected one of the smaller numbers from one of the four different wads of cash I had secreted about my body and handed it over while she pulled a note pad and pen from out of her _enormous _purse. Women.

I thought about how to word my letter to give enough clues as to who the sender was that they wouldn't dismiss it out of hand but vague enough that it wouldn't get anyone in trouble in case I was in trouble. I indicated that I was continuing the task that had been interrupted by my encounter (counting on the fact that Rukia would eventually be reading this) and that I wasn't certain where it would take me, but that everything I'd found out so far suggested I might be going down a completely new rabbit hole. And no, I didn't need back up. In fact, the fewer people who knew about me was definitely better. At least until I could get the mess cleared up and make an official report to my captain.

I really _really _didn't want to think about what it would be like if my Captain had to hear news of me second-hand from someone else instead of receiving a direct report from me. The idea that Rukia might tell him wasn't so bad; she was his little sister and so there was bound to be some leeway there, plus he was aware of how much we shared with each other. There was, however, the possibility that he might hear it from someone else other than Rukia... like Uruhara or Yoruichi. Both of the two of them would go out of their way to be as annoying and provocative as possible just to get a rise out of him. And that would only piss him off further. So I stressed the discretion bit.

In the middle of my letter Isana had come back with an already stamped envelope and the address I'd been looking for. I mailed the letter from a nearby box and we finished waiting for the train.

When the train arrived we got on it and sat down. I had never traveled in the mortal style before so all of it was a novel experience to me. An hour or so later Isana stood and signaled that we were going to be getting out. The train dropped us off at a tiny little station in the middle of no-where. There was a tiny little station that doubled as a gift shop, for the nearby shrine as well as a tiny strip mall that probably supplied some local community. Isana seemed to be the sort who always believed in being prepared for she bought a map, some portable bottled drink and a prepackaged bento which she put into a touristy little sling bag. With me more or less trailing after her, we set out on the trail up the mountain.

"Do you think this spirit will have what you need to know?" she asked me to break the silence as we walked.

"I dunno," I said. "Nuthin' like this has ever happened before. I miss Zabimaru."

"Who's Zabimaru?" she asked curiously.

"That's the name of my zanpaktou," I said, trying not to sound too sad about it.

"Zanpaktou?" she asked, requesting more information. She probably needed something to get her mind off her missing son.

"They're sort of spirit swords that are soul-bonded with their wielders," I answered. "We Soul Reapers use them to send on the souls of the dead either by the konsai-ritual for regular spirits or destroying them with the soul-cutter after they've turned Hollow."

I'd explained the basics about Hollows and normal Souls the night before, but Isana could see spirits, and had already seen some Soul Reaper in action, so she's probably already had a basic idea anyway.

"and you have names for them?"

"All Zanpaktou have names,"I said. "Not every Soul Reaper knows that thier names are at first."

She gave me a quizzical look so I warmed to my subject, I was always happy to talk about Zabimaru. I explained a little about how the blades manifested when we joined the Academy and about shikai and a little about the other demon arts too, kidou and the barehanded styles used mostly by Second Squad.

"And Zabimaru is the name of your Zanpaktou?" she asked.

"Yeah. Our swords reflect our inner powers and natures," I replied. "Zabimaru and I are strong, batttle-loving and proud. I haven't been able to sense him since I got turned mortal. I hate being kinda helpless."

"If he's part of you, then how is he gone just because you've turned mortal?" she asked.

"I don't know and it's driving me a little crazy. I don't think there's ever been a case of a Reaper being turned mortal, the closest thing I can think of is the time my Ruki- er, I mean my _friend _Rukia," I corrected myself hurriedly, hoping she wouldn't notice my slip and get curious.

Of course I should have known better, she was a woman, and chicks noticed that kinda thing. Always locking onto the things a guy would like them to _not _notice.

"Oh-hoh, is that your girlfriend?" she asked, her voice a little teasing.

Yeah right, didn't I just wish.

"Just a friend," I said gruffly, trying not to betray anything about the mess my heart was still in. "We've known each other a really long time."

"Oh," she said.

"So anyway, the only thing that comes close to my situation is the time Rukia gave her powers to a mortal so he could form a Zanpaktou and fight to protect his family. And even in that case, she wasn't mortal like I seem to be, she just had to stay inside a gigai, that's a fake body by the way, for long enough for her spiritual powers to grow back," I said. "Her Zanpaktou took even longer for her to recover."

I wasn't even going to go into the bit with that damned Urahara and his damned Hougyoku and all the trouble that it had caused.

"Maybe you just need a little time to get used to your situation," she suggested gently.

"I don' wanna get _used _to it," I growled. "I want outta this body so I c'n go back ta laying the smackdown on Hollows. My Captain is already gonna give me shit, an' his lecture'll just keep getting longer for all the time I'm away."

More than reason enough for me to hurry my ass up in my book. It'd be easier if he'd just yell at me or smack me around when he's not happy with me but nooo, he has to get this tragic _suffering _look on his face that says "it's sooo hard to find good help these days"and start lecturing me about proper observances and grace and 'edikit' and all kindsa bullshit. It was really frickin' anoying. I hated being talked down to, especially by him.

"You say 'my Captain' and I keep picturing this old bearded man with a peg leg and an eye patch wielding a cutlass," she giggled.

I laughed before I even realized it. The mental picture of Byakuya Kuchiki dresed up as a pirate with a beard was too funny _not _to laugh at. It occured to me that maybe I should avoid talking about my Captain in the presence of the reincarnation of his wife; it seemed like one mess that I really, _really _didn't want to get involved in.

"So what's he like anyway, your boss? My boss is a pervert, he keeps trying to talk me into going back in the office with him and when I chill him out with a look he smiles and pretends he was only joking. There are at least three interns who have filed sexual harrasment suits against him but he has enough connections with teh higher-ups that ho-one ever just fires his ass."

Sounded like another Captain I knew, one who was always going on about "his sweet Nanao". I briefly wondered what it would be like to see her file some harassment charges on him. Amusing, if nothing else. My Onii-san Amber had a bit to say about the good captain of Eigth Squadron too. Things about a lack of subtlety and elegance however sincere his gestures were. A real woman never appreciated being treated as an object.

"Well," I said to her query. "My captain certainly isn't anything like that. The 'zact opposite as a matterofact. He's not very... _personable_. But then again, he's top-tier nobility so what the hell can you expect?"

"Nobility?" she asked curiously.

So I breifly explained how the structure of the Soul Society worked, Ruokongai on the outside filled with the spirits of the dead and the general decline of the districts, Seireitei on the inside with the Soul Reapers coming almost exclusively from titled nobility up until very recently.

"...And the Kuchiki's are one of the Four Noble Families," I concluded. "So they're the most wealthy and influential of all."

"And you're from the outside?" she questioned. "The Rukon District."

"Yeah, one of the lowest of the low," I admitted, for the first time in a long time I didn't feel a suppressed stab of pain at being reminded of my very very humble origins. "District seventy-eight out of eighty, they call it Hangdog. Me an' Rukia both grew up there. I had to work hard to make rank, but I'm a lieutenant now."

"Sounds like you've worked hard and come a long way," she commented. I nodded absently.

"Stupid mortal body," I muttered under my breath, looking down at myself.

If it weren't for this body I could have just headed straight back to the Seireitei and reported about my encounter with the Shadow, but now, I was stuck here until I figured out a way to get whatever had been done to me undone, otherwise they'd take one good look at my human self, my lack of a Zabimaru at my side, and figure that I'd torn a page from the Book of Rukia, and lock me up.

We were pretty much out in the middle of no-where by now and I was a bit surprised when Isana stepped off the main road and onto a smaller dirt track that led further up the mountain. We walked along it in companionable silence. We didn't really know each other all that well but at the same time, knowing who she was and knowing she was related in soul to my Rukia made me inclined to like her and want to protect her. Seeing her detirmination to reach her son against all dangers and obstacles made me admire her a bit.

To be honest, when I had first heard about Byakuya's tragic history with his wife I hadn't been all that fucking inclined to feel sorry for the bitch. Maybe everyone else would have been sympathetic because she died sad, still searching for her baby sister, but not me. I was from Hangdog, I knew what it was like there. I'd made my own family, and in my book ya don't abandon family unless yer dyin'. The fact that she'd done so just because she wanted to save her own sorry ass was more than grounds enough fer me not to like her. She'd abandoned my Rukia to likely die in a dumpster so she could eat. But seeing how it followed her into her next life and made her willing to enter hell itself to save her family made me reconsider my previous judgement of her.

Traveling with Isana should be fine for now, but as soon as I got a solid lead that led out of the Mortal Realm I was going to leave her behind, not just for my sake (though it would be a lot easier and safer fer me ta travel without having to drag some weak mortal around and protect her all the time) but for her safety as well. If the Captain or Rukia ever found out I'd found her, knew who she was, and let her get hurt on my watch, Rukia would freeze off the extremities I valued the most shortly before she let her brother turn me into confetti. The mortal woman and I would probably be parting ways soon, and after I managed to separate out from this damned body and get back to report to the Captain, I could decide whether it would be morally ethical for me to tell him whom I'd found. We Soul Reapers were not technically supposed to interfere in the lives of Mortals, Rukia's situation was beyond weird for the average Soul Reaper, which I guess just went to show how extraordinary she was.

* * *

**Yay! Finals are done with today! As a celebration, you all get a two-fer! I shall post this one tonight and the next chapter tomorrow morning. **

**...  
**

**Renji**:_ And speaking of things having to do with two..._

**Zabimaru**_: **we have prepared this musical number to give an unauthorized preveiw of coming attractions that the author has not authorized.**_

**Renji**: _So here goes! *sings to the tune of "My bologna has a first name"_

_ My Zabimaru has a first form,_

_ we call it the snaketail..._

_ My Zabimaru has a seco--_

**Nightheart**_**: **_**Hey! Stop that, you're giving too much away! Get out of here, you're going to ruin the cool surprise**_**.**_

**Renji**: _Aw c'mon! it's just so cool! Can't I tell them?_

**Nightheart**: **No you may not**! **Off with you**!

*shoos them out of the Authors note*

**Nightheart: Honestly! Trying to ruin the revelation that was half the reason I wrote this thing. Sheesh! The nerve. Well, I hope everyone else is looking forward to it anyway.**


	23. Earth Spirit

We'd been walking along the trail up the worn side of the mountain for a while when I finally caught sight of what must be our destination. It was a weathered rock face with a sign above it advertising that it was a famous historical site. There were other signs posted around it telling the legend of the spirit that lived within. There was also a small tourist booth nearby selling the inevitable charms. There wasn't anyone around so Isana and I just walked right on in.

The small cave would have been dim, but the people who'd set up the signs had also wired it with electric lights and the rck formations were illuminated clearly. Isana proceeded directly to the back where a large flat stone altar housed another miniature house-shrine-box. She clapped her hands and bowed.

"I have come back," she said to the box. "And I brought an offering."

She reached into her little satchel and pulled out a small box of donuts, holding them up in front of her toward the shrine.

For a moment nothing happened, then there suddenly appeared the standing figure of a man. He came out of no-where, like my captain stepping out of flash-step, he was there. He was tall, with the kind of build I associated more with the ruling class or scribes rather than fighters like myself. His face and form were almost effeminately elegant, he had long snow-pale hair like Captain Ukitake's and jade green eyes. His clothes were long elegant robes of green and white silk with gold accents and he wore a good deal of gold and jade jewelry.

"Ah, Miss Isana," he said with a sleepy aristocratic smile. "It is lovely that you have decided to come and visit with me again. And who is your--"

He cut himself off and seemed to look at me with some surprise on his face.

"A _mortal _Soul Reaper? How unusual. What is the world coming to these days?"

"That's part of why we're here," Isana said forthrightly.

She gestured me to tell my story so I did and the cave spirit looked at me with an unwavering gaze of keen interest. And people said he was sleepy. I didn't see it. He muched on his offering while I told him the basic overveiw of why we were currently hunting for a Shadow.

"My my my," he said, reminding creepily of Gin Ichimaru.

"So basically, I need a way to get into the Divine Realms, and once there, I need a way to track these bastards down so I c'n kill 'em," I said.

"There are ways that all three can be done," the Nature Spirit said. "However, the situation is not quite so simple as you seem to think. First of all, there is something you should know about the Dangai and the realms within it. You won't like it, because it will greatly hamper your quest but, well, it is an imperfect universe we live in."

"What's that?" I asked, steeling myself.

"The realms within the Dangai are self-contained little worlds created by the collection of great spiritual power in a nexus or node, where several lines of power, or ley-lines meet within the sea of the dangai. These worlds can only be accessed through a World Gate, as you are already familiar with in your own experience. Well, one can build portals but the costs in terms of energy exceed your ability to supply."

"Okay, so where can I find these gates then?" I asked.

"Now pay attention," he replied, shooting a cool glance my way that reminded me of my boss. Nobles, tche!

"The Gates are all connected by the ley-lines, just as your own gate through the Dangai from the siereitei to the mortal world is connected to certain points by the tunnel you walk through to get from there to here. This tunnel is actually a ley-line. Unlike in the Seireitei, where your Gate only connects to the human world, a gate in the Divine Realms connects to many other different realms within the Dangai via those ley-lines. The problem is that the Gates don't go everywhere. A World Gate has a maximum of nine slots, that is sort of like a setting that enables the gate to connect via a ley-line to another gate in another realm. The gates tend to connect to each other by affinities, that is, all the gods and spirits from Russian myth will connect with each other, and all the gates from Indian myths will connect with each other. This isn't always the case however, there are a large number of gods that will have their friends gates in one of their slots. There are not many of these gates left in the mortal realm, but you're in luck I have kept mine up well and I won't hesitate to loan it to you, for a small fee."

I stared at him.

"Which brings me to my next point," the Mountain Spirit said. "You can't just burst in on a former god and demand to use their Gate, it's a stupid way to get yourself, and your friend, killed for insolence. Gods do not tolerate insolence from mortals. Fortunately for you, because of the scarcity of power after the decline from the new religions, the gods have become wary of spending their power to acquire things that they can easily do without. Most of it has to do with the complex interplay of Court politics and who does not wish to risk offending whom over a small trinket. But a mortal is neutral. If a mortal were to offer his services to acquire some item of value from another realm... well, there is certainly no predicting a mortal now is there? Face is saved, no-one can directly accuse another and everyone is happy. You catch my meaning?"

Oh I got it alright, it was the story of my life. The old peddling of favors and bribes was universal on every level it seemed. If you wanted to cross a world, it seemed you had to pay the toll.

"Unless, of course, you enter one of the Realm that have been abandoned by their creator, then you can use the Gate in that Realm for free without having to gain permission. I should warn you however, that many of its former masters will have left behind some nasty surprises to teach the unwary a lesson about invading even a demesne of theirs that they have abandoned. The gods and spirits are nothing if not possessive. And now that you understand the way to move around safely in the Divine Realms" he said. "Now you need to know how to find the Shadows, and how to hurt them."

"Now we're talkin'!" I said, feeling enthusiastic for the first time. I might not have much else going for me, but if I could fight then I'd be fine.

"You have already said that you possess a keen ability to track spiritual residue," The Mountain Spirit said.

"Yeah, but I don't know if it'll work from world to world. How am I supposed to know what setting it chose?"

The spirit looked at me with a condescending little gaze and said oh so mildly

"A World Gate retains the setting that it was last used for unless and until some other Spirit comes along and changes it," he said. "You simply need to find the Gate that the Shadow last used and follow it."

I grinned in anticipation. That was more like it! Finally, something that made sense! Something I could actually do without having to spend all this time thinkin' about it.

"Great!" I said enthusiastically. "Now once I track the bastard down, how do I kill it? Do I need Zabimaru?"

"I assume that is the name of your Zanpaktou, Soul Reaper, and I must tragically inform you that even if you had access to your sword right now, even if you were in your true form, you would be unable to kill a Shadow."

"Now wait justa minute!" I protested hotly. Was he accusing me of being a _weakling_?

"I've gone to Hueco Mundo and laid the smack-down on Espada, don't tell me I can't fight a strong enemy!"

"It is not a question of strength or ability Soul Reaper," the Mountain Spirit said coolly. "It is a matter of affinities. A zanpaktou is a sword made from a contract between a Reaper's soul and the spirit being that inhabits the blade. Your sword exists to bring peace to the restless and to purify the dark natures of a Hollow. All swords are based on elemental magic, I can sense your Zabimaru is an Earth spirit because it is aligned with my own elemental affinity."

Suddenly the nature spirit frowned, as if he'd just come across an unexpected puzzle and narrowed his gaze at my zanpaktou.

"Baboon King Zabimaru? Is that you?"

The spirit sounded astonished, in fact both of his eyebrows rose and his sleepy expression evaporated. I was too busy feeling elated at the sudden knowledge that Zabimaru was okay to investigate the mystery of how an earth spirit would know Zabimaru.

I couldn't restrain my gasp of relief and delight. He could sense Zabimaru! That meant he was still there! I hadn't lost him when I was thrown into this mortal husk.

"Your zanpaktou, based on elemental magic and the spirits that reside in those realms, are able to handle human souls however powerful because that is their purpose. A Shadow however is not and has never been a human soul. It will not answer to the four elements. A Shadow is purely a creature of the Spirit realm. In order to kill a creature of Spirit, you need a weapon that is able to destroy a creature from the Spirit out. You need a weapon that is made from the fifth element."

"A weapon from the fifth element? Where the hell am I supposed to find one of those?" I asked. "And more importantly, how do I get Zabimaru back? I can't even sense him in this mortal body of mine."

"Your swords' spiritual power was greatly damaged when you were forcibly transitioned from your true form into this physical body you are bound into," the Mountain spirit replied. "He sleeps within you, but because so much of your own reiatsu is still bound and so many of your chakra are still blocked he cannot access enough of your spirit energy to recover quickly."

"If I unbind those chakra thingies, then he'll get better an' we can fight together again, right?"

I tried not to sound like a desperately worried and needy brat, but I couldn't help the edge of it that crept into my voice. I cleared my throat and crossed my arms, looking tough so he wouldn't think I was some kinda sap or pushover.

"If he has access to enough of your innate spirit energy, then yes," the spirit replied. "But I do wonder if you realize what you are letting yourself in for."

I didn't really care right then. There was no way I was just gonna go waltzing into somebody else's realm, especially some ancient god's realm, without Zabimaru there with me. I had to have a way to defend Isana after all, if she was going to be stubborn enough to come along with me. Oh, my boss was so gonna kill me if he ever found out that I'd let his wife, no matter what incarnation she was in, put herself in mortal danger and I didn't stop her. I was his lieutenant after all, and lieutenants were always supposed to look after their Captains better interests. It still really did beg the question of why the heck I was letting her go along in the first place. She was mortal after all. I'd talk about it with her after I got my buddy back.

"No time like the present," I said sitting cross legged on the cave floor right where I stood.

"Hey!," Isana protested. "Aren't we supposed to be rescuing my son? Why are you sitting down taking a nap?"

"Do you wanna walk into an ancient myth's or legend's home turf and not have at least some hope to defend yerself?" I asked.

Wisely, she paused, then shook her head.

"Good," I said firmly settling in to make myself comfortable. "Then first things first, I gotta get Zabimaru back."

"How long will this take?" she demanded next, huffing in impatience. "My son's still out there and I don't know if he's... He's gonna be okay though, he's just gotta be."

I didn't really know what to say to that, there wasn't much that I could say. I didn't know what had happened to him or any of the other kids that had been taken by the Shadows from out of the Rukon district. I wanted to find that out too while I was at it. But if I was going down the rabbit hole I wanted ta be able to fight back if something threatened me. I didn't do helpless. I especially didn't do helpless if some twit of a woman was insisting on coming along with me. Besides, I didn't want to be without my better half any longer than I had to be, I hated that I couldn't feel his comforting presence, like a fiercer mirror of me, in the back of my mind. I'd do what I had to to make him well and get us both back in the game.

* * *

**You can haz a two-fer! And the next chapter... yay! More chakra and perhaps, perhaps, perhaps, an ntersting surprise (I honestly can;t remember if I out it in that chapter or the one after it. Anyway, it's coming up. I hope you all are looking forward to it.**


	24. Baboon King Awakens

I closed my eyes and focused my attention inward. I found quickly that it was a lot harder to do when you were mortal than when you were in the spirit world. There were a lot more distractions, my legs cramped up and my body felt the discomfort of the stone floor a lot more immediately, my feet went pin-tingly and my stomach kept growling. I was a real effort of will to isolate the distractions one by one and set them aside. When I could finally concentrate I did that particular mental twist that sent me into my own internal world and immediately felt the difference in it.

The foliage around me was in disarray, like someone had sent a hurricane through it. The trunk beneath my feet was... solid. Before it had felt real enough but there had been that faint under-scent to it that revealed its true nature as being entirely of the spirit. Now everything around me had an immediacy to it that was disconcerting. I could smell scents and taste the heat and humidity in the air. But that wasn't what really through me for a loop. Instead of lounging around in the tree branches at the far end of the massive trunk, Zabimaru was sprawled out at the base of the fountain. He looked half dead to me, like someone had just laid him out flat. I rushed to his side.

"Zabimaru!" I called, kneeling down at his enormous white side and gently shaking him a little. "Hey, c'mon, speak ta me buddy!"

The Baboon King cracked a weary eye at me that barely even glowed with inner light. Every line of his face and form were written with exhaustion. Snaketail didn't even open an eye, he just looked dead to the world.

"So you have come," he rasped out weakly.

"Yeah," I said, trying not to sound as frantic as I felt. "Yeah I'm here. I'm gonna getcha more power, so don' worry. Yer gonna be fine buddy, yer gonna be jus' fine."

He closed his eyes, his face looking a little bit relieved as he lay his head back down. I sat down beside him on the edge of the third basin and looked into it, the bottom was clogged up with trash and debris but it seemed to me that there was a little bit less in this one than there were in the others.

I was surprised to note, when I looked down at myself, that all of my tattoos were back where they had been on my chest and arms (and I assumed on my forehead though I couldn't see to be certain). Those tattoos were the manifestation of the marks that bound my chakras so it made sense that they would be there on me, I guessed. I peeled the waistline of my shihakushou pants away ( iwas in my proper uniform here in my own inner realm too) and looked down at my bared hip to see with satisfaction that the interlocking knotwork of curling tiger-stripes that had been on my hips and waist were faded almost to disappearing. They were just the faintest etchings of grey on my skin. I smirked a little to myself, satisfied. Now that I had unbount the lower two chakra around those areas the Binding Marks were fading on their own.

Zabimaru rested a moment and then, with a voice weak with weariness said

"The third chakra is located in the solar plexus, and it is the source of your willpower," Zabimaru advised me.

I looked over at him in puzzlement.

"Why is that one blocked?" I asked, confused. "I have no problems with my will power, it's my greatest strength."

Zabimaru and I had made it so far so fast because I had a strong will to grow more powerful so that I could finally beat my captains ass for taking Rukia away from me.

"And your greatest weakness," Zabiaru replied. "Your will is exemplary but you easily become so mired in your guilt and regrets that you loose your way. You must clear away your blocks in order to cleanse and unbind your chakra. This is how you will gain a resolve that does not waver."

It often hurt to hear the truth. I was just barely honest enough with myself to be able to admit that even when I felt my will was at it's strongest I often felt a small sense of hesitation as I doubted my resolve, my ability, my worthiness. Usually I went ahead and did it anyway, but there was always this voice in the back of my mind that reminded me of all of the other times I had failed.

"I've got asses to kick and nameless-names to take," I said. "Let's do this."

"..._ I was the one who didn't go after you_..."

I was standing in a world of greyish mist, watching myself see Rukia, in her red and white academy uniform, run further away from me. I watched my younger self restrain himself from following his heart, telling himself that this was for the best and it was for her best interests. I watched as my younger self's shoulders slumped down more slowly, posture becoming one of defeat as the single thing I loved and cared for most in all the world walked out of my life. The loneliness and solitude of my future without the star that told me where my home was in it hit me and I nearly lost it... but I didn't stop her either.

The scenes around me sped up like a motion picture put on fast forward. I trained and pushed myself but at the same time I kept an eye out from afar, trying not to be too obvious about it, keeping a concerned, shadowed-watch the girl I'd let go to live with the Kuchiki's. I watched helplessly as they'd taken her from the rambunctious little tearaway I knew and loved, and molded her into someone else, some-one quieter and more dignified, with a cool sort of poise and elegance. I didn't _like _it, but she was part of another world now and I was in no position to object. I told myself that even if she was a little different now, there was nothing I could do about it as I was. I was the one who had let her go in the first place so there was no point in complaining about it now. The only thing I could do was keep my distance until the time was right. Guilt over throwing her to the wolves overpowered my will to be part of her life no matter what. I kept my eyes low and my head down, hoping for a glance of her but at the same time ashamed to meet her eyes, knowing that I was reason she was what she'd become. I could sense how unhappy she was deep down She was alone and Rukia _hated _to be alone, but I was too guilty to comfort her.

"Sheesh, aren't you two a fine pair?" my voice came from behind me.

I turned away from the scenes playing out before me to face myself. My guide for this chakra was finally approaching adulthood. He was dressed in the blue and white uniform of the academy, a young and unawakened Zabimaru slung at his side and a few small binding marks on his forehead. That was me just before I'd graduated, at about the same age as I had let her go, in fact.

"I've wasted so much time and so many opportunities on this," I said sorrowfully.

"Yeah, you are a prize idiot," my younger self agreed with me. "It's dumb to blame yourself you know. I mean, it is true that ya didn't go after her, but the same could be said about her too. So if you think about it, there's enough of this nonsense to go around. Besides, what's done is done, ya can't change the past. I don't see why you insist on beatin' yerself up over it."

"I could have stopped her and I didn't," I said. "It's my fault she's unhappy. I could have told her how I felt about her, maybe if I had she wouldn't have been so eager to go off an' join someone else's family. I'da still been family enough fer her."

"Lemme tell ya sumthin'," my younger self said.

"What's that?" I asked dully, shoulders once again slumped in defeat.

This mess was all my fault. If she hadn't been so unhappy... maybe she wouldn't have been so quick to give her powers away to a human, if I'da helped her train more over the years, maybe that Hollow wouldn't have taken her by surprise. Pain and regret twisted up inside me, and I felt even worse.

"Regrets are a waste of your time," my younger self said, glaring at me. "They're just the past crippling you in the present. How are you ever going to move forward if you keep dragging yourself down with guilt and regret?"

I looked listlessly over at him. Couldn't he see I was wallowing here? Without my conscious approval, several chains appeared from out of the mist and solidified, wrapping around me like a cocoon, trailing off into the mists. They felt heavy, so heavy that I could barely lift my head and I knew instinctively that the chains represented every regret I'd ever had, and all of the things that I blamed myself for.

"There, ya see? That's exactly what I mean!" the just-past-adolescent me snapped at me in frustration. "You're wallowing in your own sense of pig-headed, self-absorbed anguish and guilt and regret. You're so frozen up by it that it makes you hesitant and indecisive. Now you can't even raise your head. What kinda wuss gets defeated from within before he ever even steps on the battlefield?"

This kid was seriously starting to annoy me, not the least because he was right.

"If you think you'll ever have the true strength to move forward like this, then you're dumber than everyone else thinks you are."

I frowned. Granted, I wasn't a genius or a child prodigy or anything like that, but I'd been clever enough to hold things together even _before _Rukia came along and became the brains of the opperation. I might not be much in any other feild besides the battelfeild but I wasn't an total moron either, no matter how I got a kick out of letting people _think _that's all I was. His remark stung. His next one hurt worse.

"If you keep holding yourself back, you'll never defeat him. Every time you face him don't you doubt yourself, just a little? Doesn't your sword waver, just a little? You're your own worst enemy, you know... weighed down by guilt and regret, the battle is already half lost and you haven't even lifted your sword. Study him and his moves and rhythms all you want, the truth is that you lack the resolve deep deep down where it counts. Your will wavers and your sword is dull and heavy."

dammit. The damn kid was right. It wasn't easy to hear or to face, but there had been nights when I'd played the two great fights I'd ever faced off against my Captain in, move by move, trying to figure out where I'd went wrong and what I could have done differently to make the battle turn out otherwise. No matter how many times I replayed it in my mind, I could never figure out how I had failed. Now that he'd blatantly pointed it out to me however, the truth became glaringly obvious. I'd failed because the battle was already over before I drew my sword. I'd only thought I'd had resolve and focus, I'd certainly had a strong desire to win, to defeat him...

"But it ain't the same thing," I acknowledged.

There was a subtle distinction between willpower and desire, a kind of nuance that had completely escaped me before this. Desire came from outside of me, making me chase after things. But Willpower came from _within _me, a strength that supported me in my drive to move forward.

Guilt and regret would cut of my will and keep me from moving forward. If I wanted to gain a will that wouldn't waver I had to release their hold over me. I had to acknowledge that there were things in this world, actions I would take and actions I wouldn't take for whatever reason that I was going to blame myself for, or regret... but I couldn't let them stop me from moving forward because if I became frozen then nothing in my life would ever change.

"Ain't it better to try and fail than it is ta do nuthin' at all?" my younger self asked. "Ain't the world you live in shaped by your will?"

The will to endure. The will to keep moving forward. The will to strive and improve. The will to face the future. The will to fight. _Resolve_.

"You know that people shape the world by their will. It's the single strongest force in the whole universe," the younger me said. "So what are you going to do with yours?"

I held my hand out in front of me, picturing the shikai form of Zabimaru there in my hand and it did seem like there was a little glimmer, but it was just a regular blade, him in his sleeping form.

"The world I live in comes with it's share of things I'm gonna regret," I said out loud, ackowledgeing the truth of my words as I said them.

"But I won't let what I've done and what I've failed to do retain the power to slow me down when I walk into the future. I'll face it head-on, without flinching back or doubting myself."

It felt something slowly loosen inside of myself, my chest seemed to expand outward and I drew in a deep breath, my flickering ghost of a sword solidifying even more. I looked at the strange ephemeral chains that surrounded me and slashed out with the quiescent blade.

"I will break the bonds I place on myself," I said firmly, lashing at them one by one as they broke with a swing, the scenes they were tied to disappeared. Not being able to save my friends... smash. Not telling Rukia how I felt about her... smash. Letting her go... smash. Not being her friend even though she needed one... smash. Not being able to save her from her execution... smash.

I was here now, and I was going to keep moving forward.

"By."

Slash.

"My."

Slash.

"**WILL**!"

Zabimaru let out a howling roar that shook the air and earth around me. Suddenly the world was flooded with golden yellow light, like the sun had been born inside me. I felt flooded with confidence and resolution, like I did at the height of a really good battle and all I could see was the enemy before me, and I felt that there wasn't anything I couldn't smash my way through. The flickering familiar plain blade of Zabimaru in my hand solidified into a blade within my grip. Then the blade changed as he formed his shikai.

"Z...Zabi--" I stared hesitantly at the shikai in my hand.

There had to be some mistake. My _soul _felt that it was my Zabimaru but my _eyes _were telling me otherwise... because he wasn't someone I recognized.

Instead of the widening, segmented and serrated form of Zabimaru in his coiled position of shikai, I was faced with a stranger. The hilt was strangely ornate with curling sharpened spikes twisting in intricate knots that reminded me of my tattoos. They coiled in sharpened curled points and joins like smoke from incense, twining around the hilt and guard, spiraling down the handle and twisting into a cage around a fang with a baboons face carved on the end of it. The ornate hilt was strange enough. The blade was...

:_Huge_,: I muttered to myself.

I was surprised at how very put-out and mildly insulted I found myself feeling about that. I loved Zabimaru's versatility and elegance, the way he could twist and shape himself to suit nearly any need, the way he was a poetry of beauty when he flew through the air. What was this _thing _doing here?

The blade wasn't serrated, it was all one smooth piece. It shot straight out from the ornate cross-piece into a double-bladed flat-blade. It was widened slightly at the base and then the edges curved slightly inwards at the middle then flared out into a neat diamond-shaped head, giving the blade a faintly elongated hour-glass shape. There were slight etchings of the knotwork striations chasing down center (or the tang, if you prefer) of the blade in subtle matte-silver-on-silver patterns near the hilt. Those only served to draw the eye down the elegantly smooth line of the blade. The edges and tip winked dangerously up at me, promising that I would see some excellent battles with him. I stuck the tip in the ground before me and stepped back, frowning, to examine him. He was tall enough to nearly reach my neck and the gracefully sleek line of the blade, contrasting with the ornate style of the hilt, stated even more boldly the fact that the blade, was over half a foot wide!

"Who the hell are _you_!" I demanded, irritated.

Zabimaru didn't answer directly as I was cast out of the world of golden light and back into my little side-ways tree garden. I was standing in the middle of the basin but there was no key in my hand this time, instead there was a wide thin slot in the center surrounded by an ornate circle in the stone at the bottom of the basin. Taking the silent hint, I slid the strange Zabimaru, point down, into the slot and turned. Golden liquid power flowed into the bottom of the basin, and a strange pattern with a circle, surrounded by three other circles connected on one side looking like three half moons one inside the other flared up and disappeared as the basin filled itself.

I stepped out of the basin and knelt next to Zabimaru, the shikai of the strange blade pointed downward. Zabimaru looked up at me, his eyes glowing with their usual lambent light. He looked better too, though Snaketail didn't seem to be awake yet.

"Hey, what the hell is _this_?" I demanded, pointing to the offending sword as he flicked an eye my way.

Where in the hell was my Zabimaru and why was I expected to weild that... that _club_?

"This is Baboon King, Zabimaru," the Baboon King said to me with pride and a touch of smugness.

I stared back at him blankly.

"I've been fighting side by side and as one with Zabimaru for the last forty frickin' years," I said in hot reply to his little story. "I think I know what he looks like, better than I know the back of my hand, an' this guy..." I pointed at the massive pointy straight thing.

"Ain't him!"

Unblocking that yellow chakra seemed to have made him feel a lot better because Zabimaru got up (though Snaketail was still out of it) and regarded me steadily.

"Sixty-three years in the world and he thinks he knows everything," he said to the silence of the forest at large.

I frowned, I hated it when Zabimaru acted all old and wise an' crap. Treatin' me like I was just some pup.

"What the hell's goin' on?" I demanded next. Where was my Zabimaru so we could get back to the kicking of ass and the taking of names.

"Well Renji," Zabimaru said in a tone of slightly condescending patience, like he was findin' somethin' damn funny.

"We have gone far in our first form. Even without mastering and unbinding your chakra, you've managed, through sheer stubborn perversity and bull-headedness to master the Snaketail all the way to Bankai. But in order to unlock my _true _form, and thus, our true power, you needed to become much more than you were settling yourself for."

Wait, wha--?

"I put those binding marks on you when you were still young," he explained. "Because if you had attempted to use all of your power to your full potential while you were still so unstable on the inside then you would have burned yourself right out and I would have had to wait centuries for a new wielder who suited me so well as you do."

"Why now all of a sudden? Why not when Rukia--"

"You were too tangled up and desperate then. You were so full of fear and desperation you would never have made it past the first chakra," Zabimaru replied. "In a way it is fortunate that Rukia chose another when she did--"

I stared, unable to even _begin _to voice all the objection I felt to that bullshit.

"By doing so she cut enough of your ties to her to enable you to take your eyes off the star and look inward for a change. But enough of that. You asked why the Shikai of Zabimaru is different."

"Uh, yeah," I said, my head still spinning a little.

"Well, there are two forms of us, are there not?" Zabimaru asked archly.

"Uh.. yeah, I guess," I said.

There were sort of two forms, I mean, if you counted the Snaketail and the Baboon King as two separate and distinct personalities housed in the same body and they certainly seemed that way most of the time. But I'd never even imagined that there would be--

"So... this huge sword right here is... _you_?" I said, in surprise.

I looked again at the sword. A lot of swords in the Soul Society had strange and unquantifiable released forms, forms where it was hard to tell just exactly how large or small they really were. My boss' sword was a case in point; you couldn't take one good look at that cloud of metal petals and even _begin _to guess how much metal they were made of, let alone how powerful the reiatsu was that held them all together. My own shikai of Zabimaru started out pretty good sized, but then extended into a form that was quite large. But other swords came with forms where you could take one good look at them and know (if they were a tank and not a ki-dope) how exactly much power they were packing. The brat's sword was a good case in point, you could take one look at Ichigo's sword, for instance, and tell he could pack a punch just by the size of it alone. I'd always sort of contented myself with the fact that at least he could only basically swing that thing around like a cudgel and mine was far more versatile. Well, it had been... until clubby here had shown up.

"You don't look pleased," Zabimaru said. "I had thought you'd be very happy to see that you have a sword that more directly fits your straightforward style of fighting. Now you can hack and bash away to your hearts content."

"Well, don' get me wrong or anything, it's great an' all... but what about my buddy?"

I _liked _fighting with Zabimaru, and it was a little annoying to think that, after finally having made it to Bankai I was going to have to spend another forty years mastering a new weapon.

"Snaketail Zabimaru is still there for you Renji, we both are," Zabimaru said, sounding almost fatherly. "He's just out of commission for a little while. That being bound to mortal bones has come as a shock to us both, but he seems a little more susceptible to it than my part. You're powerful enough and centered enough to handle my shikai now."

Sheesh, Zabimaru made it sound like I was a kid ready to have his training wheels taken off.

"Why don't you give it a try?" he encouraged. "It's still us, fighting together, it's just a little different that's all."

A little reluctantly, I wrapped my hand around the hilt of my new sword and pulled it out from the ground. It felt light in my hand but solid. Despite the differences in size and weight and balance, it still _felt _like Zabimaru.

Baboon King Zabimaru gestured with one hand and in front of him a faceless little manikin of about my size and weight with a sword appeared before me and held his sword out. It looked a little creepy, the faceless little humanoid-looking thing, but I shrugged and brought the massive new Zabimaru up before me in a guard.

:Geeze, this thing's big enough to be its own shield,: I grumbled to myself.

Without any further hesitation I charged at my opponent, who tried to doge to the right. I swept the blade to the side, the edge impacting with his. I pivoted automatically and tried to press in. The opponent leapt back to gain some space. It was annoying that I couldn't extend Zabimaru out to follow him, but it was unneccssary since he came to me. I swung, upwards and out, missed, and he passed me but I pivoted and chased him down. My body was slowly starting to adjust to the new style of combat, it wasn't terribly different from what I was used to. In some ways, Zabimaru was right, it _did _suit me better. I could charge and swing and feel the impact shake down the length of Zabimaru and it did feel pretty good. Maybe a little _too_ good though, I really didn't want to admit that I sort of liked this form a little bit better. When it came to fighting (and in most other things) I was as straightforward as they came, having a blade that was a direct as I was was just adding cocoa to chocolate.

The three strikes that the manikin tried to make at me were easily blocked and even though this form of Zabimaru wasn't as flexible as the other there was a strength in its rigidity that the other form didn't quite manage. It wasn't terribly difficult for me to hound the little bugger down and dispatch him. Sure he put up a fight but I had him. The sword started to feel real nice in my hand as the battle went on. There was something elementally satisfying about bashing away at a target from close range, something about being close up and watching it go down.

"It's not so bad, I guess" I said a little grudgingly.

Zabimaru gave me a wry knowing glance.

"You liked it," he scoffed.

I grinned. Well, yeah.

"The Baboon King form is closer to your inner nature," the Baboon King informed me. "That is why you had to master the snaketail form first."

I supposed I could see why that would be; if I had been able to access this form first I would likely have _never _taken the time to get to know, much less master, the occasionally difficult, twisty ways of the Snaketail.

"Now that you have," Zabimaru continued. "And have gained more mastery of your inner self, then you are free to fight with my true strength."

He got stronger? Really?

"If you choose, you may go further down the path and unlock a few more of your chakras, though... not the last one."

"Why not the last one?" I asked him, a little miffed.

What, he thought I wasn't strong enough to or somethin'?

"The last Chakra is the one that deals with the universe and a soul's place in it. In order to unlock the chakra a person must relinquish _all _of their attachments in order to become one with the universe. That means everything you place value on you must let go; love, family, duty... As a Soul Reaper, you cannot relinquish your duties and become one with the universe, you must remain attached to what holds you."

"Why's that?" I asked, more out of curiosity than because I wanted to try it out. Give up Rukia? Give up bein' a Soul Reaper? Was he _nuts_?

"If you give up your attachments and attain a higher state then that means my connection to you would be severed as well. I would be forced to return to my quiescent sleep and sleep until the next soul I sensed a connection with had taken up the duty to be a Reaper."

Give up Zabimaru? No way in hell!

"Yeah, okay, so... last one's a no-go then," I agreed.

"However, I would like to encourage you to unlock the heart, throat and brow chakras," Zabimaru said.

Three more? Wasn't I self-aware enough dammit!

"Why is that?" I asked wearily. Just thinking about it made me want to crawl under a rock and sleep.

"Firstly, because it will be good for you. In the immortal words of Sun Tzu... "The man who knows not himself and knows not the enemy will never win a battle. The man who knows not himself but knows his enemy will be sometimes triumphant. But the man who knows himself and knows his enemy will not need to fear ten thousand battles." It will make you a better man and a better fighter."

I raised my brows, intrigued, despite the fact that this journey was far from being comfortable for me in a lot of ways. You try having to face every dark, cowardly, stupid, and irritating aspect of yourself that no-one ever really wants to know about and not only accept that they are part of you but accept that in order for you to be a man you have to then try an' change them... yeah, not exactly easy. And if I didn't unbind the chakras once I took up the task I stood a real chance of remaining locked inside myself forever.

"What's the other reason?" I asked.

"Well..." Zabimaru smiled, and looked a little embarrassed.

"More power," he said. "I want to see how truly strong we can become together. The more chakras you unlock, the greater your power will grow."

Hm.

"Isn't that the same as getting greedy?" I asked uncertainly.

"Is it selfish to want to live up to your fullest potential?" he countered.

"Nah, I don' think so," I said.

I hadn't really thought about it before. No-one had ever really told me I _had _potential. Usually it was more along the lines of 'yer an idiot' and 'who the heck would do things that way?' and stuff like that. Even Rukia was quick to pick a fault and rag me on it.

"Aren't you curious to see what kind of a man, what kind of a warrior, you could be if you unleashed your true power?"

"Well, yeah, I guess I am," I said.

I liked getting stronger. I'd trained for all this time with that goal in mind. Still, all that training had been hard, difficult, often life-threatening work and training. Suddenly getting a whole new kind of power suddenly offered to me seemed just a little too easy somehow. The Rukon brat in me kept looking for the worm in the apple.

"What's the catch?" I asked him finally.

"What catch?" Zabimaru asked me.

"There's gotta be a catch. Nothing in my life has ever come easy, y'know."

"Are you saying this is _easy_?" he countered.

I paused. He had me there. I was accustomed to hard manual labor and steady work to gain any sort of edge. (Unlike some people I didn't come with a family built-in, and I couldn't pick up a sword and master it in three frickin' days. I had to work _hard _for whatever I got.) This new sort of work with the chakras was hard but in a different sort of way. It involved having to look hard at what was already in my soul and acknowledge the bits about myself that were weak and difficult to face. I supposed that anyone who had done the same thing would know that it wasn't nearly as easy as it sounded, if it sounded easy at all.

"No, I guess it isn't. So what's up next?" I asked. "What's the next chakra?"

"The heart chakra," Zabimaru replied. "It is the center of love and emotions and it's blocked by sorrow and grief."

Oh, was that all.

"Looks like I'm done here," I said.

If he was asking me to face down_ love_ then there was no way _that _chakra was getting unlocked.

"Giving up so soon Renji? That isn't like you," Zabimaru said.

"It's love," I said, as if it should be obvious. "Most of my issues seem to stem from it."

I'd just recently gotten to the point where I found myself worthy inside of receiving love, I shuddered to think of what other new kinds of twisty little bonds and mess ups awaited me in that chakra.

"All the more reason you should try for it then," Zabimaru said. "Strength in adversity. You don't become stronger by challenging weaker opponents. Besides, this can only _help _you. If you resolve many of the difficulties you have with regards to love, think how much easier your life will be, how much lighter your heart will become."

I eyed him dubiously. Painful as it was, I kinda _liked _being in love. Sure, it seemed like it was entirely one-sided, but it gave me a perverse kind of strength and tenacity to draw from it. If I gave up that source of strength wouldn't I be weaker for it?

"I don't _want _to give up love," I stated.

"No-one's asking you to give it up," Zabimaru replied. "Just release the parts of it that seem to be holding you back."

I thought about that for a long minute, Zabs seemed to making another of those nuances again, and he had not led me wrong so far. It was scary and even thinking about it made me want to find someplace else to be, but maybe that's why i had to just go ahead and do it. I was tired of running from what was inside of me, it only exhausted me and made my sword weaker. It was time to face it, face it, accept it, defeat it, and grow truly stronger. There wouldn't be a better time than now. I shrugged, might as well try it as not. I hated giving up anyway and admitting that I couldn't do something when I hadn't even tried it was not my style at all.

Zabimaru blinked slowly at me and I found myself back in the mist world again. The mist seemed a little lighter than before. My self was standing there waiting for me, wearing the uniform of a full-fledged Soul-Reaper. The tatoos on his forehead were the same as the ones I'd worn for many years, still there was a strange, indefinable sense of youth around him, a lightness to him that suggested that he hadn't seen as much of the world or the battlefield as I had.

"You ready fer this?" he asked me.

"Not really, but let's do it anyway."

* * *

**Thank-you every-one for the wonderful and encouraging reveiws. I seriously could hardly wait to share this with you all. I really want to hear what everyone thinks of the new form of Zabimaru (and if anyone out there is any good with artwork... hint hint) I can't draw worth a darn, my stupid brother got all the massive heaps of talent in that department. But yeah... anyway, old sibling jealousy there. I hope you all enjoyed this, look forward to the next chapter in which he will take on the Heart chakra, perhaps the most difficult one for a man like Renji, and look forward to future chapters where we get to see just what the true strength of Zabimaru's other form is.**


	25. Heart Chakra

It didn't start out with Rukia, as I had thought it would. Instead the first scene to surround me (I was watching it unfold before me like a disembodied spirit) was me at seven years old looking behind me at the Barai house and being a little sad that no-one had come to see me off. It was my seventh birthday after all, and I was starting out on my own. Still, Barai House was a busy place... I watched as the younger me walked down the pathway before him and out into the harsh streets of Hangdog. The scene changed to my first meeting with what later became my family.

Haru, the short skinny kid with the leopard print yukata, was lively and quick. He grinned and laughed and got a kick out of flirting as close to danger as he could. He was a good kid, but not real long on common sense, he'd been something of a dreamer, always living half in this world and half in another in his own mind. There had been times when I'd envied him his ability to drift off somewhere else, I'd wished I had someplace to go that was better than that place. He had needed looking after, someone with a speck of common sense to keep him from haring off into places and situations that would get him killed. It hadn't been long before I'd become something of a surrogate big brother to him.

We were joined next by Tomi, even half-starved he somehow managed to have a larger frame than me and Haru combined. He'd been kind and gentle, some said slow, but I guessed they just didn't see the way he took his time to really think about things. And not just where he was getting his next meal from either, he thought about things like, why are certain people born in some sectors and other people born in others, and why was there wind and sun and seasons when the whole place wasn't a planet? People called him slow and dumb but they just didn't know that he saw the world a whole lot differently than anyone else seemed to.

Next came Miki, a trouble-maker from first to last. He seemed to have been born with an innate knack fer mischief and a drive to drive everyone around him to distraction with pranks and tricks, still, that was part of what made him so great to scavenge with. He was always thinking up new ways to scam merchants. Even in a world as dangerous as ours there were still kids out there who thought they were invincible. The little shrimp was lucky he had me to have his back when his little jokes went too far with some of the bigger kids.

The four of us were raiding a merchant one day, running for our lives as he chased us down with a two-by-four intent on taking our supplies back as well as our hides, when what to our wondering eyes should appear but a tiny young scrap of a girl with big dark eyes, tripping up the merchant and then to emphasize her point, dancing on top of his head. I'd been so shocked at the sight that I'd actually frozen up in amazement, a first for me. When she urged us to follow her at a run we didn't need any more prompting, we'd all followed after her. It turned out she didn't have a flop she we took her back to our place and I divided out her share of the spoils. When she took down that kid that was so much bigger than her for the sake of some justice for a little kid well... I guess it was all over from then on. She was one of us and we ran together.

The scenes that flashed next were hard to look at. Myself being called up by one of the local barmaids to see if the body of a boy found beaten and broken in an alley as the result of a brawl the past night was one of mine. I'd been thirteen and it had been the first time I'd been faced with the death of someone I cared about. Grief and sorrow clenched in my chest, bringing hot tears to sting my eyes. Being a proud young man I'd felt the need to maintain my image as a tough guy, partly so no-one else thought they could move in on my turf... I hadn't let myself cry. Even when we had been buying his body up on that hill and Rukia had been weeping hard, I'd had to stay strong for her, for all of us so had never shed a tear, but all of my crying was done on the inside. A year or so later Tomi fell to the Riverfront Ravage, despite all of my attempts to get healing and medicine for him he died there in that miserable little hovel, surrounded by us. I'd still needed to stay strong because there was Rukia and Miki to look after and due to the sickness food was harder to come by. I commanded myself to suck it up and get on with the business of living, burying my friend and taking care of the two that remained. They grieved but I couldn't, I didn't have the time or the luxury, if food had been hard to get before the Ravage, it was almost impossible after it. Then Miki died. It had happened suddenly, without warning. A year after the worst of the Ravage had finally passed over Miki volunteered to bring home dinner, Rukia was repairing a tear in my yukata and I was already out to grab fresh water, so when the news came that he'd been caught in the crossfire of a revenge-war it came as a surprise. Looked like Miki's infamous luck and cleverness had finally run out. By that time it seemed like even Rukia didn't have any tears left and we were both dry-eyed and solemn as the last of the old crew was buried up on top of the hill.

I ignored the weight in my chest at having to relive those old and still-painful memories. It was bad enough that they had happened in the first place, why did I have to be subjected to them again. I didn't see the point, they had happened, there was no changing them, and I had gotten on with my life just fine, right?

"Wrong," my young Soul Reaper self informed me.

"Watcha mean wrong?" I demanded. "I'm here aren't I? I ain't bawlin' my head off on top o' that hill, or wasting away in an alley somewhere, so then what's the problem?"

"You only think you're fine, and that you've put it all behind you," my young doppleganger said. "But in reality you've only pushed your grief down so you wouldn't have to deal with it. They were your family Renji, the closest thing you ever had to one since yer Onee-san's had to push you outta the nest. You couldn't shed one little tear for them when they were gone?"

"Yeah so what? I done my best for 'em, what more d'ya want from me?"

"You have to acknowledge that deep down, you still grieve for them because you never let yourself grieve properly when you lost them."

"I do not," I muttered.

What, he thought I was gonna start crying like a little wuss or sumthin'? Che! Not likely. I was a _man _dammit.

"Men grieve too," he replied.

I looked over at him caustically. Yeah, sure they did.

"Your boss does it, he just does it quietly, and with ice," myself pointed out.

Well that was _his _problem then.

"You do too, you just push it down so no-one else can see it, but it's still there, a canker beneath the surface. It's not going to go away unless you face it, and until you do, you'll never love freely."

"I love plenty!" I snapped. Wasn't she reason I did anything?

"Sure you do, no-one who can say they know you could possibly say otherwise," myself agreed with me. "But I didn't say you don't love, I said you can't love freely."

"What the hell's the difference?" I demanded, really irritated. The other chakras were bad enough, makin' me deal with fear and guilt and regret but for some reason this one made me more uncomfortable than the other ones combined. It kinda seemed like he wanted me ta, I dunno, start bawling like a brat or somethin'.

"You have to sever your ties to grief before you can freely, truly give and accept love," myself said.

I snorted. It all sounded like a buncha new-age hippie crap ta me. I wasn't no damn wuss that was gonna hold hands and start bawling his eyes out reciting poetry and talking about his feelings.

"I'm not tied to grief," I protested.

I was fine. I felt fine.

"No, apparently you're still stuck in denial," myself said a little facetiously. "Otherwise you'd be aware that that little pang you get in your chest whenever you think about family, either your own or someone else's, is the echo of those unresolved feelings you have for your own lost family."

I crossed my arms and scowled. This was stupid. There was a long drawn-out silence as my younger self just looked at me, waiting. Okay, so maybe there was a _little _something there. Maybe. I mean, it wasn't like I was jealous of Rukia or that brat for having a family or anything. It was okay ta miss yer friends if they were gone, it didn't mean that there was some part of me somehwere that was still hung up on it.

Did it?

:_Bugger_.: I thought in annoyance as the thought occurred to me that maybe it did. I really didn't want to do this.

"Fine," I gritted. "Maybe I do still miss 'em all. Maybe I am still a little sad about them dyin' on me, but that was a long time ago. What am I supposed to do about it? I got on with my life so it's over with, right?"

"Is it?"

I was startin' ta get seriously irritated with me. That guy kept turnin' all my questions back on me.

"If you still hurt whenever you look at other people who have all that you have lost, then can you really say you're as over it as you want to believe?" he asked next.

I scowled. He had a point, and it really kinda ticked me off.

"I.." I didn't want to admit it.

"All you have to worry about in this place is yourself, there's no-one else to see or judge you. The only person holding you back here is you, so then where's the harm in admitting it, in acknowledging to yourself that you feel grief over what you've lost. What does it harm you to grieve a little bit for love and loss?"

"I ain't gonna cry," I mumbled, even though my throat seemed to want to tighten up all on it's own.

In reply, my doppleganger pointed his index a finger at me and tapped my chest. A strange glow of green welled up from my torso and that tiny little knotted ball of grief and misery that had been where I'd shoved all that sorrow I'd felt at loosing my family, put it aside and away from me to get through the next day and all the days that followed loosened itself, uncurling like a flower and spread. Now I had to face it. I gritted my teeth as a terrible grief welled up in me, entwined with great rage against the world and with destiny for taking the people I loved from me. It hurt. It hurt a lot. I was pretty well used to physical injury but this kinda pain wasn't something that anyone should ever be able to get used to. I gritted my teeth and felt the strength drain from my body as I sank to my knees. I curled around my pain and misery in a way I'd never let myself before, having no choice now but to just ride it out.

I curled around my anger and grief and tried to keep the sobs from wracking my body. Strangled noises, whimpers of pain like a whipped pup, escaped my throat but my eyes at least remained manfully dry. I had that much at least, but the rest of me was given over to it. It didn't happen all at once either, but it seemed to come in waves, one tide of grief ebbing for a bit, long enough to let me breathe, before then next one came again and knocked me sideways. I grieved for those I'd loved and lost and for those I hadn't allowed myself the chance to love out of fear of losing them. It felt like an eternity later when the last of the suffering dried itself up and I could uncurl from my fetal position and climb back to my feet like a man. I was going to ignore the fact that my cheeks had somehow managed to get wet, it had been the dew.

:_No it hadn't_,: and inner part of me whispered.

Well, no it hadn't, but it was enough for me that it had happened _at all_, there was no need to make a big production out of it. My heart seemed to know the truth, that the greif was no longer a weight in my chest and that I had relinquished its silent hold over me.

But it seemed that love wasn't quite done with me yet. Myself was still standing there waiting for me, and once I had pulled myself together he pointed behind me. I looked back to see a familiar form step out of the mists. Rukia.

"Aw c'mon," I grumbled. "Ain't it enough ya had me on the ground bawlin' my eyes out, why ya gotta start in with her?"

"You won't get anywhere unless you face it," he said.

"Face what?" I asked. "I love her, she see's me as another older brother. What's ta face?"

"Your despair," the doppleganger replied. "The feeling of inadequacy that prevents you from offering your love to her straightforwardly and accepting that she might love you in return."

"She doesn't though," I said flatly. "She loves that brat."

"The fact that she loves another does not change the love that you give," my doppleganger said to me.

He had to be kidding me. What, I was just supposed to go through my life, doomed to an eternity of unrequited love? I wasn't a masochist.

"What I mean to say is that, it doesn't change the quality of the love you give, it doesn't change the fact that the love you give is a good emotion that finds its source in a worthy man with a true heart. It also does not mean that you, who give love, is unworthy of receiving it in kind."

I stared at him for a long moment, trying to wrap my mind around all that he'd just said. Oh, so I was a worthy man huh? If I was so worthy, then why did she seem to love everyone else but me so much more? She spent more time with the brat, who hadn't even known her for a year in mortal terms than she spent with me. And as for that kidnapper brother of hers...

"Well what good does that do me then?" I asked. "Is my being worthy and true or whatever suddenly supposed ta make her fall in love with me?"

"I think that you underestimate the depth and importance of the bond you share with her," myself said. "Hasn't it lasted all this time, through all those mistakes and misunderstandings?"

"But that's because I've loved her all this time," I grumbled. It was embarrassing, and a little pathetic, to have to say it out loud.

"And who is to say she hasn't loved you in return?" he asked me. "More importantly, does the fact that she may not love you as you love her automatically mean that you should stop loving her?"

"Well doesn't it?" I asked.

In the world I knew and had grown up in, only an idiot gave something away for free. The only people who survived were the people who got for what they gave.

"Does love work that way?" he questioned me.

I stopped and stared at him, confused. Well didn't it?

...Didn't it?

:_No, y'know I don't actually think that it does_,: I realized.

I recalled snippets of conversations and commiserations of what everyone around me, including my close friends, said about love. Some had compared it to madness, others had called it the most wonderful thing in the world, the only thing that everyone seemed to agree on was that it has a will of its own and that they couldn't help but follow after it. There had been other people besides myself who had been put in doomed or one-sided relationships because of that fickle thing. At least with me there was a rock-solid foundation as to why and how I loved her so deeply. There were so many reason's why I couldn't help but love her. Because I couldn't help it, I knew. If someone else, no matter how wonderful and perfect a woman she might be, walked up to me tomorrow and offered me everything in life I could possibly want if I'd leave behind my love for Rukia and choose her instead I already knew that I'd refuse her without having to think about it. The heart did as the heart did and my heart loved her, even if she loved another. I felt the sinking weight of depression gather in on me again.

:_I'm doomed_,: I thought.

Doomed to an eternity of one-sided, unrequited love. To be close enough to talk to her, even to touch her if I reached out my hand, but never to have her realize how I felt about her or return my feelings. The fact that she was part of my life at all was a pretty small consolation.

"And we're back to the drawing board," the younger me said, in exasperation. He was looking at me with disbelief and shaking his head.

"You're really pretty amazing, I gotta say," he said. "You were so close, and yet you'd rather wallow in your little courtly love drama than see what's staring you right in the face."

"And what's supposed to be staring me in the face?" I asked him, irritated and depressed. The only thing I saw staring me in the face was that I was doomed to a twisted sort of loneliness in the future.

"You keep treating love like it's this precious commodity and there's only so much of it you have. You keep thinking that if you give it away it's lost forever. That's not what love's about."

I stared back at him blankly.

"It's not?" I asked. This was a new one on me.

"Love is infinite in it's capacity to expand and regenerate itself," my doppleganger informed me. "You can love lots of people in lots of different ways and none of those ways has to be inferior to any of the others."

Really.

"You are free to love Rukia with an open heart, even if your feelings aren't returned, because how can anyone tell you what to feel?"

"One problem with that bub," I said. "Rukia doesn't feel like she deserves to receive love, so if I let her know how I feel about her, she'd just feel burdened by obligation. That's not supposed to be what ya do ta someone if ya love 'em."

"And people call you insensitive," he noted dryly. "But don't you love her anyway and want to be there for her anyway? In any way you can?"

Well, yeah, that was why I was pretty much doomed.

"Maybe you're looking at this the wrong way," my younger self said to me. "The fact that your bond is still unbroken and as strong as it is should be celebrated. Lesser feelings in lesser people have certainly changed for smaller reasons before."

Okay, and that was supposed to help me how?

"It's not about getting repayment for what you put out there, it's about the capacity in your heart to love selflessly."

I did, but that didn't mean that it didn't hurt like hell sometimes.

"Opening your heart to other people will always carry the chance of being hurt or betrayed, but that doesn't mean you should keep everything you have to offer to yourself just because you're afraid of getting hurt. What would your life be like if you hadn't taken in your friends and made them family? If you hadn't cared about Kira and Momo? If you hadn't made friends in the squads you were assigned to? How much more lonely would your existence have been if you hadn't forged bonds with people, however tenuous?"

In short, love could hurt but it could heal too. No-one ever said it would be easy. I sighed, why couldn't life be simpler than that? I guessed that life wasn't meant to be simple either.

"And your love for Rukia?" my younger doppleganger pressed.

"What about it?" I asked.

Yeah I loved her, so much that it hurt. And okay, I was kinda starting to get that the love I was able to give didn't need to be returned ta be valid. It'd be _nice_, but there was a weird sort of strength in selfless love too.

"You of all people can say that you have been shaped by love."

I shrugged, not getting what the hell he was trying to get at now.

"Can you honestly say that you'd be the man you are today without that love?" he demanded.

"O' course not!" I grumbled.

Every single fucking decision in my whole god-damn life up until now had pretty much had _her _at it's heart. Join the Academy why? Because Rukia said "let's go be Soul Reapers." Make myself miserable for decades why? Because I want to girl I love to have the best of everything, to have a family to love and support her. Work my ass off to become a Lieutenant in the shortest amount of time possible, why? Because I want to stand beside her with my head held up. Defy the whole damn Soul Society and just about everyone in it, get my ass handed back to me by a brat and then kill my pride to beg for his help why? Because it was the only way to save her life. My feelings for her were more important than _anything _to me; pride, status, ability, none of it meant a damn without her.

But along the way my world had become larger because I'd accepted other people into my life. My two best friends (aside of Rukia) Kira and Momo had been an unexpected blessing. Kira with his sharp mind and quiet strength, always ready with an observation or a quick word to help me out. Momo with her sweet disposition and pure kindness had become the little sister I'd never had, always cheering me up in her way. Ikkaku Madarame, my sempai, with his brash temperament and loud attitude understood me and my own hang-ups perhaps better than I did, he too had guided me in his rough way when I needed it. Aizen, a man I had looked up to and admired, I'd gone to him for advice and counsel with problems I couldn't see an answer to... he had betrayed me in the end, betrayed us all, but the fact that I was one of many, and that some hurt from it more than I did didn't change the fact that I still hurt from it, even though I wouldn't admit it.

Matsumoto, Hisagi, Yachiru, Rikichi...

Even Kuchiki, the stick I used to measure my self against and the stone I used to sharpen my edge... ours was a complicated relationship, I wanted to hate the man for stealing Rukia away from me, but I couldn't because he had given her so many opportunities that I couldn't. I was pissed off at him, still, for falling short when Rukia needed him most, but he'd redeemed himself here and there by saving her life.

"What of it?" I asked.

"The source of your greatest strength is how you feel for the ones you love, not only Rukia but for your friends as well."

I could see that now. I guessed I wasn't so bad off; maybe it wasn't what I had aimed for, and what I _wanted_, but I had a lot of good things going in my life. I was stubborn, but... it wasn't like I was settling for less. I cared about my friends, after all in the old Rukon proverb "friends are the family you can choose." Maybe I should take my eyes off the star and start looking around me for a change. I felt another little bit loosen inside of me.

"So... I'm done here, right?" I said hopefully. "Sure, my love for her makes me stronger, motivates me, and gives me something to aim for, but actually getting what _I_ want isn't the point. Love isn't about being selfish, but about caring enough about the other person who matters to you to do what right for them."

I'd given her up once before because I believed, rightly or wrongly, that it was what was best for her and what would make her happy. I could give her up to someone else, even if i didn't like it, if it was what would make Rukia happy. I'd already had plenty of practice with suffering in silence, if it would hurt her to know the truth about my feelings for her, then dammit I'd keep shut about it.

"I've stepped aside for her sake, so I'm all done here, right?"

"Not quite," the younger version of me said. Then he stepped in front of me and the rest of his tatoos filled in and his face took on that indefinable quality that spoke of age. In short he became a one hundred percent accurate copy of me. I stared at him for a long moment as he looked at me expectantly.

"I don't get it," I said after a long silence in which we looked at each other.

My doppleganger gestured to himself and said

"You've accepted love and greif, love and loss, love and letting go and love and acceptance from those around you now the last thing you have to learn about love is how to love yourself."

I stared.

"Oh, he-e-e-ell no," I said flatly.

"Would you rather hate yourself?" he questioned me in my own voice.

"I don't hate myself," I replied. "I just don't get what you mean by loving myself. I get what you said about love not being limited and that there's always more of it fer me ta give to others if I want to and that I can't let grief keep its hold over me or it'll hold me back forever but I don't really understand what you're lookin' for here."

"Honesty," my doppleganger said approvingly. "You're learning to ask yourself the right questions, so I guess I'll give you a helping hand so you can come to understand it. Close your eyes..."

Feeling a little wary because all this chakra nonsense had me waaaay outside of my comfort zone (especially this love one) I did as he instructed. At first I saw nothing but the darkness behind my closed lids but then a vision began to form. It was a smaller image of myself and Zabimaru, immediately surrounding us was Rukia, Kira and Momo, Ikkaku, Yukichika, Hisagi, and Captain Kuchiki, all tied immediately to me with strong bonds of light. A bit further back were some of the guys from eleventh and a few of the other captains, connected to them with smaller threads made of light were friends of theirs that I also considered to be important parts of my world, Lieutenant Matsumoto, Captain Hitsugaia, Ichigo and the Brat Pack, Urahara and his two brats Ururu and Jinto, Hanatarou, Nemu and so many others. All tied to them and tied to each other in a web of light. Each of them, however minor, had touched my world for the better and they were tied to each other by that bond of caring. it was like I was part something bigger than I had ever taken time to realize. I'd always considered myself as being someone rather minor in the grand scheme of things; a good fighter, and I cared about Rukia and my friends but I'd always felt deep down, that if I were to die, I'd only be mourned by a handful of people and they'd get over it rather quickly. Seeing this I realized that it simply wasn't so, my life had been touched by so many...

I wondered if I was worthy of being at the center of such a vast interconnected web. I wondered what they all saw in me that was so special that they'd waste their time. I was just me, sure I thought I was pretty important but I pretty much expected that no-one else felt the same, so I had to prove I was something remarkable. I felt tears welling up in my eyes at the realization that the whole time_ I_ was the only one who felt that way about it.

The veiw of the individual people and threads panned out and I found myself looking down at a massive spiderweb of interconnected threads. I intrinsically knew that those threads represented not only bonds of friendship and loyalty but also actions that had been taken, words said, smiles, lessons, little touches of light here and there that people had carried with them and passed along. It sparkled back at me in a beautiful ever growing pattern, lighting up the dark that surrounded it with me at it locus, determined to shine as brightly as I could. Each of the threads that touched me seemed to make me stronger and brighter.

:_And it works both ways_: I realized with surprise.

My impacts on the worlds of many of them (especially farther out on the edge of the net) had been rather minor, or at least that was how I'd always seen it. An encouraging word to Ururu about having some spine, a rough way of teaching Uruahara's boy respect and how one treats their gang-mates if they truly want to be a leader, a few idle lessons on how to take respect if people won't give it to him to Rukia's little healer-boy, a smile of encouragement when someone couldn't get a technique, setting someone up to take lessons or seek advice from someone i knew who would be good at giving it... all of them seemed like very minor things. They were things that came naturally to me, and half of the time I didn't realize I was doing it and I'd _certainly _never given it much thought beyond the fact that it felt like I was doing the right thing at the moment, but looking at the vast net of lives that had touched me and I'd touched them rippling outward with me at its center, I realized that I had a greater impact for good than I had originally thought.

In that moment I felt such a profound feeling of humility that it caused tears to spring to my eyes and simultaneously made me fall to my knees (and that was not a position I ever assumed easily or willingly). I was filled with the knowledge that they all believed in me, that they all saw in me something that made me worthy of their respect and admiration. The harder I fought to make myself "worthy" in their eyes only made me that much better and more honorable to them. I was struck dumb with shock and awe at the revelation, all this time I had been the only one who thought of myself as unworthy or lacking in some way when I was already an integral part of a love that I hadn't really even known existed. The person that everyone else saw that I had never been able to see until now _existed_; he wasn't a mirage or a false front, I just hadn't ever realized that he was me all along. As humble as I felt about maybe being unworthy of being the center of something that reached out so far beyond me, I was that much more resolved that I would be worthy and that I would be the man they saw. I would accept thier feelings, and my own, without flinching, and try my best to return their good with the best that was in me.

With that promise to myself I felt the remained of that tight little ball of grief warm, melting into something different, and loosening and spreading from within my chest expanding outwards until my whole being was filled with warmth and a green light of hope and healing, colored like the first leaves of spring. Just the same as i had felt a powerful goodness and peace flow out from me along those threads connecting me to everyone else in my life no matter how distant, so too did I feel my own heart and being flood with a pure love filled with acceptance and support. It had been there all along, I was the only one who hadn't seen it fluttering around like a bird within the cage of my own grief and inadequacy. It was released now and my spirit soared.

I opened my eyes faced with myself staring right back at me, knowledge and wisdom in his eyes, the sort that I myself had just gained. There wasn't anyone around to see or judge so I reached out and hugged him close, accepting the wordless condition of my release. he dissolved a second later and after that so did the mist world. I was back within the jungle glade with the tree and the fountain and Zabimaru. I looked down at the now clean bowl of the fourth chakra and inserted the point of the new form of Zabimaru into the slitted keyholeand turned, feeling the locking mechanism click over. A symbol inside of a circle of a six-pointed star with an upward facing triangle at its heart appeared, written in lambent green light, just before the bottom of the pool flowed with powerful light-liquid flooding it as the pools before it had done. The trees around me seemed to whisper for a moment and when I looked over at Zabimaru, Snakey was begining to come around and the baboon half had eyes that glowed with their usual lambent light. He radiated strength and solidity just as much as he ever had, even more so now for some reason and I felt good about that. I felt good in general, more... more _myself_ than I had ever been before. I wasn't a perfect person, but who was? I did now feel a feeling of validity, it wasn't false pride that I wore as an armor, I knew there was something more to it, more to _me_. More than being shaped by love, I also shaped the world and the people around me by it, and for the better.

* * *

**Oy! If you thought Renji struggled with this chapter, that's nothing compared with how I struggled with it. It's funny, I had it two-thirds of the way finished, I'd stopped at the point just as his doppleganger tells him he has to love himself and I just hit a brick wall. I could not for the life of me imagine a circumstance where a tough guy like Renji would get all sensitive and huggy-feely new-age-hippie with himself, I must have started and stopped with different scenarios three times. Some went off into tangents that just didn't work, I tried letting my mind lie fallow for a bit hoping it would come to me but it wouldn't. It was when i was doing something completely unrelated that it finally came, just in time for me to post on this Tuesday! Yay! As always thank you everyone for your wonderful support, your reveiws and encouragement are always a wonderful goad to keep me posting and I hope the wait didn't kill you all. I'll try to get the next chapter up by thursday (yeah, the next two chakra are only half written too, but all the stuff that happens after he faces down his chakra are all written out so, after this hurtle it should be smooth sailing!) See you all soon, I hope!**


	26. Looking In

"Yer lookin' better," I said, relieved to see that Zabimaru seemed to be in much better shape than when I'd left him. The extra power boost was doing him good then, good.

"As are you," he replied.

"Really?" I asked him, a little surprised. This inner-scape place didn't come with mirrors so I couldn't look to see if he was right, so I'd just have to take his word on it. And now that I thought about it...

"I feel better," I said out loud, realizing that it was true just as soon as I'd said it. I did feel better, more alive, more complete, more comfortable in my own skin. In short, I felt more myself than I had ever been before.

"The source of your greatest strength is how you feel for the ones you love, not only Rukia but for your friends as well," Zabimaru said, nodding with gravity at me. Being part of such a greater whole made me feel both humble and determined, humble that I was important to so many, and determined that I wouldn't let them down. I could feel the strength of that unwavering resolve fill me, flowing through me with every beat of my heart, endowing me with a warriors strength that was greater than anything I'd ever known or believed myself capable of.

"So, are you ready to try for more?" Zabimaru asked me.

I considered it.

"What's up next?" I asked curiously.

"The Throat Chakra," he replied. "It should be... an interesting one for you."

I wasn't sure I liked the way he said interesting.

"There are many who would say that with the loud way you're always shooting your mouth off, expressing yourself is not a difficulty you suffer from... you and I both know better."

I sighed inwardly, discomfited. Yeah, I knew exactly where he was going with this. I shot my mouth off all the time, but most of the stuff I said was just what the people around me expected to hear from me. I didn't often voice out loud the things that mattered to me, maybe around Momo and Kira, two people in the world whom I knew would never judge me or ridicule me for stepping outside of my role and letting some of my inner self out, but other than that... Not so much.

"I'm getting better though," I said, a little defensively.

After all, I'd actually talked with Captain Kuchiki and had built up the courage to say out loud some of the things that were on my mind. Oh, granted, it was nothing severly life changing, like "may I have your permission to pay court to your sister?" but in it's way it was a significant step. At least I wasn't forcing myself to shut-up out of some kind of misguided sense of concern anymore.

"The throat chakra is the fifth chakra, it has to do with self-expression, communication, honesty and the ability to speak our inner truth out loud. A sealed throat chakra can manifest an inability to convey emotions, which in turn can lead to feelings of stagnation, dishonesty and low self-esteem."

I winced again. Another fun one, I could see that already. I had the sad feeling that if I'd unlocked this chakra all those years ago when Rukia had gotten her offer from the Kuchki Clan and I'd litterally forced myself to be silent and still when what I had really wanted to do was run after her and beg her not to leave me, my life wouldn't be the same mess that it so often was now.

"If you unlock it, however, you will have only one left to go until you have gone as far as you can," Zabimaru pointed out.

I found now that I wanted to go as far as I could. I wasn't content anymore to settle for less, to be less. I wasn't a greedy person by nature but being a person who was strong enough for others to be able to look to had always been important to me. It had shaped the man I was as much as anything had. I owed myself this one.

"It sounds like it'll be worth all the trouble," I agreed, nodding my permission to continue.

Zabimaru nodded and blinked slowly at me as the world around me faded to mist. Over the course of my unlocking the chakra it had seemed to me that with each one that I unlocked, the color of the mist world changed. Witht eh first one I had been surrounded in darkness, and the one following that, the mist had been dark dark grey, like the color of a furious thunder head. Now the mist was such a light color, a soft silvery color that was fast approaching white. It was pleasant to be in it too, very warm and fragrant, though even I could not actually place what it smelled like. Walking out of the light-colored mist was me again.

"We meet again," the other-me said, sounding a little dry about it.

"What can I say, I'm a glutton fer punishment," I said, shrugging.

The other me looked back at me steadily, measuringly, and it was damn creepy.

"What?" I demanded after a little while.

"This one might not be as difficult as it once would have been, but you have a blind spot or two that affects the way you express yourself," he informed me.

"Oh? Like what?" I asked, still not sure I really wanted to know. Unfortunately I had the feeling that being honest with myself was going to be pretty important to winning through this thing.

"Give me another hug and we'll talk about it," the other me said, smirking at me. The smirk kinda irritated me. A lot.

"Talk now, hug... some other time maybe," I said.

Just because I'd done it once didn't mean I was some kind of femmey little wuss that ran around crying and spouting off about his feelings or whatever, and just to be sure he/I knew it, I told him so in my next breath.

"I just don't believe in that new-age hippie crap about yapping on about my feelings and giving myself reaffirming hugs. I'm a _man _dammit!"

"You keep saying that. I wonder if you realize that gender, for you, is as much a role you play as it is a biological designation. In order to be accepted in the social group you have chosen, you confirm rigidly to certain standards of masculinity, some of which are not entirely realistic... or healthy."

That brought me up short. I thought about it for a long moment rather than immediately dismissing it as a load of huggie-feelie womanish crap.

"Ah, progress," the weirdo-me pointed out. I scowled at him.

I wasn't anything like those wussies at Fourth, always talking about thier _feelings _and being _sensitive_.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," my doppleganger pointed out.

"Duh, if an enemy's comin' atcha ya don't sit 'im down an' yap about their feelings or whatever, you take him out so he don't get back up."

Doppleganger looked back at me steadily. I sighed.

"Now look, I don't think that me being manly an' tough is bad, I think it's good, it's the only way I survived. Back in the flop-house if you weren't tough enough to fight tooth and nail fer turf and possessions, you got mowed over by every asshole that was bigger than you."

In the weeks before I'd established myself as a brawler of some skill, one who was ready to take on anyne anywhere over even the slightest perceived insult to me or any of my gang-mates, I'd had to fight and keep fighting. I'd had to sleep lightly to defend the spot I'd staked out for myself to sleep in and my few possessions had been raided time and time again and I'd had to fight to get them back. You had to have a prickly sense of pride and be willing to fight to defend it with whatever you had, that and only that would win you respect. Respect you needed to survive and prosper in the flop-house. Even among kids, there was much the same mentality you'd find in fine examples of most prison-yards, what you could get you could keep, but only if you were strong enough and willing enough to go to war over the smallest thing. Strength equaled respect, and if you were respected, no-one messed with you. So if someone thought they could push around one of my gang-mates, they'd better be ready ta deal with me, if someone thought they could take my stuff or anything thing that belonged to one of my own, I'd take them on tooth and nail (literally). I'd had some real good fights before I finally got it through to the others that they were better of leving me and my friends alone. It had gotten worse over the years, especially as Rukia got older and cuter. Sure she was a skinny thing as a kid, but that hadn't stopped a few of the older boys from finding her interesting when she got to be around that age; she'd always had a certain aura about her, the only thing that kept them off her was my reputation for fighting like rabid dog and being ornerier than a badger with a back-ache. They didn't dare come near because everyone knew I'd fight like a demon if they messed with one of my own.

It wasn't just a matter of being willing to fight either, in order ta have respect as a leader, even of a small gang, you had ta act like a leader. Not just organizing raids and keeping yer gang-mates fed but there was a certain sort of way ya had ta carry yerself, an attitude of pride that told people that you weren't someone they wanted to mess with if they wanted their bodies intact and unbeaten. You had ta look, all the time, like you would be happy ta take someones eye out of they disrespected ya. You had ta be tough, and manly, even if you were still just a snot-nosed little boy. The ones who cried a lot or couldn't fight, got kicked around unless they were protected by someone stronger. In the world I'd grown up in the weak were food for the strong, and if you weren't strong you were weak. Showing any sort of weakness would be like sticking a bloody steak in a shark tank in that flop-house we'd grown up in. Even when my friends had died, as the leader I'd had to keep up a strong, stoic front; anything less than that would have put my remaining friends safety and possessions at were certain unspoken rules and expectations to someone of my unofficial standing. You didn't cry, crying was weakness and you didn't show weakness if you wanted to be respected. If you wanted to be a leader, you weren't a sensitive boy (or if you were, you hid it well). Leaders were the fighters, the ones strong enough to protect thier gang-mates and their pride. You had to be proud if you were a leader, because when you were as poor as that you didn't have much besides your pride.

:_I guess that over the years that tough-guy attitude just became so ingrained that it was habit_,: I thought.

Later on, after I'd joined the Academy I met plenty of other boys, nobles sons of course, who had that sensitive thing going for them and they'd all looked down on me so much because of where I'd come from that I clung even more tightly to my street pride and my brawler-strength, determined to show them all that just because I came from the outside didn't mean I wasn't just as good, or better, than most of those pansy-assed mamas-boys. "They wouldn't survive one day out in Rukongai" had been a constant inner monologue with me. That tough-guy attitude that I'd built up as a leader became a sort of armor against a world and society that (as usual) didn't seem ta give a damn about me. Granted, I made friends easier than Rukia had but there were still a lot of ways that I hadn't been accepted. Fortunately, I knew enough about leadership and charisma and people to land on my feet okay, or at least I'd made it a point to showcase how powerful a fighter I was so that anyone who might think about starting something with me would think twice about it. There had been a few, early on, it had surprised me on my first few weeks in the academy to witness the same sorts of probing and testing of strengths and weaknesses and the establishing of unofficial ranks with my dorm-mates that had gone on in the flop house when I'd been a little kid.

Later when I'd been part of eleventh, it had been more of the same. You were accepted if you were tough enough to survive, and you climbed ranks if you were proud enough and strong enough. I'd never really questioned the need for that mask of masculinity I'd developed. In order to be accepted, in order to survive, in order to thrive, there was a strict code of behavior. The Guy Rules might not always make sense, but anyone who fit in among the tough set who respected for their strength and tenacity knew what they were and exemplified them.

"I don't see anything wrong with that," I replied after having thought it out.

"Those rules you so exemplify never allow you to express emotion," my doppleganger replied. He paused then held up a qualifying finger as I opened my mouth to protest

"Anger and aggression don't count," he added sharply.

I subsided then thought of another exception and made to speak it but he cut me off by saying

"Neither do threats!"

The wind well and truly taken out of my sails, I huffed impatiently.

Most of the guys I knew, myself included would rather had a root canal or ten than sit down and have to talk about our feelings... Which was sort of the point of this. But frankly, I was more of a man of action than a man of words.

"And Rukia?" the other-me prompted. "Do you believe that your silence, or even worse, your dishonest words to her on that day really helped anyone? If you had been honest with her about your feelings for her, would that not have been much better?"

I looked down and away. We both knew the answer to that one. Rukia had always had some problems with self-esteem sometimes, and I'd unwittingly made them even worse. I wanted to fix that, but I didn't know how or even if I could.

"You could start by being honest with her," the other-me said.

I knew he was right but dammit I just didn't want to. The very thought of having to force those words out of my throat was beyond mortifying. What if she laughed at me, or didn't take me seriously? That last was partly to be expected since I often played the fool to keep peoples spirits up, but I didn't think I'd take it very well if I was honest with her and she laughed at me for it.

"Opening yourself up to others does also mean opening yourself up to be hurt but if you stay inside the box of the role you've assigned yourself then people will not be able to know what's going on inside of you. You often complain to yourself that Rukia is too opaque and that you never can tell what she's thinking, but one might also say the same for yourself, or rather, because you've given them a role to work with , they assume that they already know what you are thinking. If you always pull back and keep shut, never saying what you are feeling inside of you then nothing will ever change... just like nothing has changed for the last forty years because you have been too aware of your differences in status, too wrapped up in your guilt and feelings of unworthiness to speak what is in your heart to her and change them."

I was silent for a good long moment because he was right. I would have to speak up and say what I really thought and felt for anything to change. It was scary in its way, certainly more terrifying than any battle I'd ever weathered, if I lost a battle the only thing I would loose would be my life, valuable in its way but I had already long since resigned myself to fortune in that way, but opening inner self up to rejection and hurt was far more terrifying.

_:But if I don't get past this and speak out then things will never change. People will never take me seriously or expect me to be anything but what I make them expect me to be_.:

Fine then, I was going to resolve to speak my mind when it was important. Words were power and they should be weilded carefully, but I was at the point now where I was beginning to feel that mine atually counted for something. I'd still be as careful as I knew how, but the fact that I was a person with real feelings and opinions should no longer be dismissed.

With that resolution I felt a stone in my soul give way and I felt inundated with a powerful brillian blue light. The thick, concentrated power that accompanied it was suffocating in its sheer scope but at the same time I felt wonderful. It was a lot like being very pleasantly drunk, the power flowing through me now was intoxicating and I dizily found myself spun out of the mist world and back into the clearing with Zabimaru. I blinked and staggered to my feet.

"I've taken the worst of it and sealed it back away already," Zabimaru informed me.

"Then should I...?" I asked, gesturing to the sword I was holing in my hand.

"Go ahead, it's more than a formality. You must symbolically unlock the chakra yourself Renji," he replied.

I took the hour-glass-shaped, diamond-headed Zabimaru and, with it slung over my shoulder marched on over to the fountain climbed up the side to the teir second to the top and inserted the tip of him in the bottom of the cleaned-out basin. A brilliant flow of turquoise-colored liquid energy sprang up from the bottom and filled the basin. I felt a feeling of well-being and satisfaction inside of me at the sight.

"One more," I said to him. "And is it just me, or are these chakra getting easier as we go?"

"It is not just you," Baboon King Zabimaru replied. "The bottom ones are the hardest, though the upper chakra are the ones with all of the power in them. Once you have won your way through your underlying issues, the lessons and strength traves upwards, clearing away much of the detritus from the top ones automatically."

"What's that you said about sealing my power away already?" I asked him. "Isn't the whole reason I'm here and doing this in the first place so that I can release the binding marks?"

"Yes, but you must understand, you are still lousy and unpracticed at actually handling the power. Think of your meridians as being like a muscle in your body, pretend for the sake of example that you had broken your leg and had to heal it human-slow without the benefit of a Healer from Fourth, during your recovery time your muscles will have atrophied. You wouldn't try to sprint or flash step across the Soul Society using muscles that were not developed enough for it would you?"

I shook my head no, there might have once been times when i would have tried something before I was ready for it, but hard experience had taught me that proceeding at the pace I was able to handle was the only thing that would keep me out of Fourth Squad.

"Your "muscles" for controlling the spiritual energy that you are unlocking are still underdeveloped. The channels you have need to be worked and streched and strengthened before you can handle using the full power of your spiritual energy."

That was a bit disappointing, but I guessed I could see where he was coming from.

"I will continue to regulate the amount of energy you have until you reach a level on your own that is capable of dealing with the concentrated raw power up the upper chakra.

"I leave it to you then," I said. "One more to go."

Zabimaru inclined his head once, and blinked slowly. I was back in the mist-world surrounded by a mist that was almost pure white.

"Why in the world do you constantly downplay your insight?" myself questioned me immediately. "It almost like you don't _want _to see the big picture!"

"Well...' I said shrugging a little helplessly. "I don't see what good it'll do me. I've never been all that keen on strategy and stuff, I'm more of a ground-pounder than a general anyway. That sort of thing is fer other people to look out for, people who're good at it, like the captain."

"That sort of thinking won't get you anywhere. You're thinking of yourself like a junior officer and you need to stop that and start using your reason. You have solid instincts for battle, you always have, but you limit yourself."

I looked helplessly back at him. I didn't see what he meant, I was the same person that I had always been. I was a fighter, not an intellectual; a guy like Kira, who enjoyed reading scholarly-type stuff about strategy and politics would be suited to studying all that high-minded stuff about the logistics behind running a war. Me, I could get the right people in the right places, match the skills to the situation in order to achieve victory but that was more or less just _common sense_!

"You'd be surprised by how many fighters and leaders don't have any," myself replied. "Or even if they do, it's all geared toward one particular thing."

I looked blankly back at him. He sighed a bit and said

"Look at the way you're organizing Sixth Squadron as opposed to your predecessors for example."

I frowned. On taking up the figurative reigns of Sixth I'd noticed something; the fighters were all excellent fighters with a great deal of potential, and they were all a mixed bag, but no-one ever _practiced_ and they all knew only the sort of fighting and kidou techniques that was taught in the academy. None of them had worked to develop a style that was suited to them, an worse, none of them knew how to fight against anything more than the average opponent, in short there was a great deal of diversity (which was good since overspecializing bred in weakness) and a lot of untapped potential, but no-one was working to develop it. To that end I took my seated officers, tested them out for strengths and weaknesses, then assinged each of them several no-rank Reapers (what later came to be called an element) with as diverse a set of skills and fighting styles as I judged each of them were capable of and had them fight and drill and train together. I encouraged the fighters to learn from each other and hone their own style but also to diversify their strengths and learn how to work well in teams. Then, once I had judged them sufficiently up to snuff, set two of the elements to trying to beat the other ( a little friendly competition never hurt anyone) the result was a squad of Reapers who had confidence in their strengths, awareness of their weaknesses, and an appreciation for the benefits of practice. I'd polished myself much the same way, minus the organization, and I didn't see where it was so terribly unusual. It was just common sense to me to do things this way. When you trained against others who had skills and strengths you didn't you learned how to fend against that and it made you a more diverse and well-rounded fighter.

"So what?" I asked cluelessly.

"Other squadrons don't train their fighters the way you do."

"What about Second?" I riposted.

"They train only in their own squad, and they only let in a certain, very specific type of fighter. True, they have mad ninja-assassin skills, but they are, in the end, specialists."

I snorted.

"If you overspecialize, you breed in weakness," I said.

"Exactly," myself replied.

"I still don't get your point. How does the way I train my squad have anything to do with unlocking this chakra."

"When you started dividing people up you really gave your teams a lot of thought, remember? You visually assessed each individual fighter, no matter how low their rank or how nominal thier perceived position, you categorized them by type and skill level and assigned them accordingly, placing each fighter in a slot where both personality and fighting style had a good chance of working out."

"Yeah..." I said. "That's what a good Lieutenant should do, there's no point in throwing people together who're going to be at each other throats all the time. Common sense."

Myself looked like he was counting backwards from ten. I noted that he took a deep breath as he said

"What you call common sense isn't as common as you seem to think. You are capable of seeing a lot more than you give yourself credit for but you consistently limit yourself. You refuse to think about matters outside of your prescribed role in life, refuse to allow yourself to have any inside into wider matters. You consistently slough of those types of worries on other people with the idea that they are somehow "better suited to it" than you are."

It was annoying how difficult it was to argue with myself when he pointed things out that I couldn't deny. I hadn't really consciously thought about it, the y way I did things, I just did what felt natural to me. I perceived a lack in my squadron, and I wanted to be surrounded by squad-mates I could take pride in, the same way I taken pride in the acute differences of my gang-mates growing up, so I'd just reorganized things so that it was fixed. It made perfect sense to me.

"Hm. Maybe I am..." I said musingly aloud, thinking back over it.

I _had _poured a lot of time and work into getting the dynamics just right; a good mix of diversified fighters who would learn a lot from each other and personalities that, while they might rub against each other from time to time, wouldn't seriously clash too much. I'd seen to the details just fine, but also kept my eye on a larger goal of continued improvement across the board for my entire squadron.

"I guess I shouldn't just ignore larger issues because I don't think I'm suited to thinking about them," I mumbled to myself reluctantly. It was a lot easier that way, but sticking my head in the sand just bacause thinking about things was inconvenient wasn't going to make me a better fighter or, more importantly, a better man.

"And while I'm at it, I guess I could use to expand my horizons a bit."

Kira was alway nattering away about the latest book he read or paper he wrote, I guess I could actually listen for real and talk about it (maybe even read it myself to see what was so great about it!) instead of just listening politely but mostly tuning him out with half an ear.

The fact that I seemed to have realized my own intuitive understanding as being something more significant than what I had dismissed it as being, and the fact that I was begining to open my mind up more seemed to be enough to unlock the chakra for I felt myself once again bouyed by a pleasantly warm feeling of power that was siphoned off somewhere and the mist worled around me faded back into the jungle glen where Zabimaru was waiting for me.

I grinned a little cockily at him and took up the new sword to unlock the last fountain which flooded with an intense indigo colored water made of light.

"Well done," he said proudly.

"Nuthin' to it," I said, feeling more than a little proud of myself.

The journey I was about to go on might take me to strange places I had never even imagined, it would probably be dangerous and I might be alone in the journey but I now had a confidence and a strength i hadn't even imagined within myself. I would make the journey, set my feet on the path clearly, looking straight ahead, and move forth under my own power. I could be dangerous and mysterious, but I was looking forward to it. This would be my journey, my story, and I was going to make it a good one.

* * *

**I waffled back and forth about this one too, as ever I was expecting perfection of myself and all my ideas never seemed like they'd be good enough, finally today I thought to myself, look, you have all these other chapter waititng in the wings and they'll never get posted if you don't move past this. Really, they'll probably appreciate sooner rather than perfect, so just write something already! I got started and, as is the case with all those essays I churn out just before or a day past the deadline, it's not the scary monster I imagine it to be. In fact, I'm sort of pleased with it. I didn't do much beta since I'm in a hurry to post it before I start to think about it too much, so if there's grammar and spelling errors, forgive me this once. I hope you liked it!**


	27. Forms

I opened my eyes to see that the daylight which had been shining strong when I had last shut them was weak and rose-colored. There was a form of the woman I was traveling with (and couldn't seem to get rid of) stretched out on the floor inside a futon and blanket sleeping nearby. I looked over at the Mountain Spirit who looked back at me with an interested green stare.

"Your reiatsu is different," he informed me.

I could feel the difference too. It seemed to surround me in a just barely contained cloud, pushing out from under my skin. It felt thick and heavy, but not so that I couldn't move. The very air around me felt charged and the back of my tongue tasted slightly of ozone. The small, easily contained trickle of power I was accustomed to had been replaced with what felt like a raging ocean of power trying to fit itself in my mortal bones. I sorta wished that I had Zabimaru's seals back on me because being surrounded and submerged in spirit power that felt as thick as pea soup was a little unsettling.

"I, uh, unbound my chakra," I said reluctantly.

I was half tempted to try it out just to see how much of a punch I could pack with my new strength, but I didn't think my gracious host would appreciate me blowing holes in his home.

"How interesting," he mused.

"How long was I out for?" I asked curiously.

"The sun is breaking on the next day," he replied. "Miss Isana has yet to leave your side other than to go down the mountain for more food."

At the mention of food my stomach rumbled. I got up slowly, painfully. My body was stiff and sore from staying in one position on a cold stone floor for hours on end. I carefully began to stretch and work the pain and stiffness out of each muscle group, working from the ground up, stretching and limbering. I never skimped on my warm-ups, as a warrior I had quite enough respect for my main weapon, my body, to want to treat it right. If you couldn't move to lift a sword in a fight you were dead weight. It was stupid to risk injuring yourself with inadequate preparation when your opponent was already trying to injure you, it was like you were doing half his job for him.

After warm ups I decided that running through some forms with Baboon King Zabimaru, just to get a little more familiar and comfortable with him, was in order. A warrior, if he had any sense at all, never went into battle cold and with a weapon he didn't know at all. I had fought for decades with the Snaketail, now I had to teach myself over. It was best to start at the basics, with the forms.

"Howl, Zabimaru," I hissed, trying not to wake the little missy up.

The long, flat (slightly curved-edged) blade with the diamond-shaped tip materialized where the simple curve had been before. The smoke-like intricate metalwork of the hilt and guard firmed in my hand. I could practically feel the strength and balance humming from the blade. I ran through the basic blocks by the number, ten reps of each. Next came attacks, then lunges, then parries, also by the number. The numbered attack-block sets, ten reps each, followed by the basic attack-block-counter-attack sets. I wasn't working up a sweat or anything but he chill of the cave started to wear off as my body moved in the familiar patterns.

Zabimaru, of course, felt different in my hand. He wasn't quite a stranger, but my body kept telling me that my movements with him were not the ones I was accustomed to. My steps were wider, my stance was lower, my movements larger. Oh, he felt light and good and balanced in my hand, almost like swinging a feather, but at the same time... it still just wasn't what I was used to. He was straight and rigid and I sometimes felt the urge to move parts of me out of the way when I swung him.

After the repetition of the basics was through with, the new form of my sword felt a little less like a stranger to me, so I started on the first movement of forms that i had ever learned, trusting in my long standing familiarity with it to help me adjust more quickly. It was strange but going through that first form with Baboon King Zabimaru brought back memories of my first few days at the academy in the weapons class. Everything else about the new school, new world, and new _life _I had found myself in at that point had been strange and often unpleasant to me, but the moment the teacher handed that bokken to me and showed me the movements I was to learn something slipped into place for me.

I've never had any troubles picking up a new form and my body seems to have always done just what I asked of it. I liked physical exercise, I liked the feel of my muscles moving under my command, the feel of the air moving in and out of my chest, the steady pound of my heartbeat. It was when I was focusing my concentration on improving my strength, my form, making my every movement quick and sure and precise that I felt really _alive_.

So it was with the new form of Zabimaru. My body knew what it was supposed to do, so despite the basic unfamiliarity of the weapon in my hands my muscles moved smoothly, fluidly and with perfect control in the patterns of the form. My muscles automatically adjusted for the size of the weapon, it wasn't really all that different, Zabimaru extended after all, and slowly somehow the stranger became a friend to me. I began to revel a little bit in the satisfying strength in the weapon, the solidity of the strikes, the smoothness of the swings, the stability of the sword when it blocked.

I was past my third kata and almost to the point where I could begin to imagine an invisible opponent moving counter to me when I was brought out of my zone by loud clapping ringing in the cavern. I glared over, irritated at having been interrupted to note that the woman, Isana Rourke, had spread out a small meal on top of the blanket. My stomach let me know that it hadn't been filled in a while and would very much like to be so... right now.

I reformed the blade back in its quiescent state and sat down, cross legged, before her.

"Wow," she said, sounding impressed. "I saw you beat those men really easy but I didn't know you were a ninja or something."

"I'm a Soul Reaper," I replied, digging into the breakfast. "Hollows are mean and nasty monsters, some of them a really mean and really nasty, you don't beat them by asking them politely to join hands and sing cumbaya. Ya beat them by being tougher, stronger and better than they are, or they rip you apart and eat you."

"...oh," she said, in a small voice. "That sounds-"

"It's not a nice world I move in Missy," I said to her shortly. "It's full of dangers you can't even begin to imagine. The place I'll be going to is uncharted territory, even for the Soul Reapers. I don't even know what's out there in the Dangai, only that the creatures that crawl in the Dark Between are so tough and so dangerous that even the strongest of us leave them the hell alone if we want to survive."

She must have been taken aback and even frightened by the intensity in my face and in my voice. Good. I wanted her scared, she should be scared, then maybe she'd finally grow some sense and leave me to track it alone. I'd bring her kid back to her, she didn't need to be there and she'd just be in the way. But I knew the stubborn nature of a lot of women out there that said that if you implied they were weak and useless (even if they were) they'd strive harder than any new greenhorn to prove that they could do whatever the hell it was they'd put their minds to. I'd be the first to admit that women could be amazing, but in this case I didn't need a distraction getting in the way of my battle.

"I'm not scared," she said in a voice that tried to sound firm, but there was an undercurrent of tremor beneath it.

"Then yer an idiot, and I don't travel with idiots," I replied. "You've been helpful up until now and I thank you fer feedin' me an' helpin' me out, but this is where we part ways. There's no way I'm bringin' an untrained mortal woman with me to face an unknown enemy that's already shown me that it's got teeth. Big ones."

"I just have to find my son," she said desperately. "He's my whole world."

I steeled myself against the sorrow, desperation and fear in her eyes. That face that looked like Rukia's face pleading with me to understand, to help her.

:_She's **not **Rukia_,: I reminded myself, having to make a hard effort of will to resist. :_She's not, Rukia and you can't cave_!:

"Please," she begged, tears welling up. "Please he's my baby boy. he could be hurt..."

:_Stop looking at me with **her **face_!: I thought, teetering on the edge.

I'd always been a sucker for Rukia and her sad, lost pleading look. The fact that I _knew _this woman was not Rukia didn't seem to be helping my weakness one bit. I still wanted to cave.

"Look," I said, trying not to sound desperate. "You're a human-"

"So are you!" she protested.

"It's dangerous out there and you don't have any way to protect yerself if somethin' happens to me."

:_And if anything happened to you and Byakuya Kuchiki ever found out about it, I'd be toast long before Rukia ever got a hold of me_,: I added silently to my self.

"I don't care!" she said. "He's my son. I'm his mother, I brought him into this world, loved and nurtured and protected him. It's not just my duty or my responsibility to see him safe... it's my _right_. Can't you understand that?"

I paused. Not really. What did I know about parenthood? I'd never had a family besides the one I made for myself, what the heck would I know about it.

"Now look, I know you think you have to be there to get him back safely, but if you come with me I won;t be able to fight the way I need to because I'll be worried about your safety. You're just going to have to trust that I'll find yer son for you and bring him back safe. Okay?"

"No," she said stubbornly "It's not okay."

She backed up a pace and looked at me.

"I didn't want to do this to you," she said. "But you leave me no choice."

She thought _she _was going to do something to _me_? I sized her up and mentally snorted, yeah right.

"Solid firmament, growing life," she chanted. "Roots of the mountain, supporter of all. Treasures that shine beneath the surface. Firm path. Glass and stone take steps to the north."

She gestured, pointing a finger directly at me.

"Bind!" she commanded.

I reared back in surprise as I felt a spiritual density surround my body. Metaphysical shackles ringed around my wrists neck and ankles. On instinct I flared my reiatsu out at gold level and struggled against them. The spell tremored and Isana's face hardened with determination. She looked over at the Mountain Spirit and gritted her teeth as I poured out more power from the fount within me. The shackles began to loosen and move as I pushed against them. The Mountain Spirit rose to his feet. I tried to reach for Zabimaru.

"He's fighting me!" she said.

Like _duh_, what the hell did the wench think I was going to do? I pushed harder, increasing my level to orange and the bonds started to buckle.

"I can't hold him!" she gasped.

Of _course _she couldn't hold me, stupid human.

"Wandering path, sword of the warrior," the Nature Spirit said softly. "Metal that finds its source in the earth. Iron of the Blood, strength of the bones. By this spell be woven."

The slight bonds that had been woven around me by Isana's reiatsu were suddenly increased by about a hundred fold.

"This contract be written by the strength of the earth," he continued. "Let this warrior, bound to his mortal bones, be bound in turn to serve this woman until the fulfillment of these conditions. He shall track down and rescue her child and return them both safely to the mortal world, or until such a time as she commands his release."

I felt a strange green power well up from the air around me, a choking mist that tasted of moist damp earth and fresh growing greenery. It surrounded me in a whirlwind of misty glowing green light. I'd felt some serious spiritual pressures before, but I'd never felt anything like that. It was... it was even more overwhelming than the Kuchiki at his finest, even more powerful than Yama-sama when he unleashed his reiatsu.

"Bind," he said softly.

I felt those bonds sink into my flesh and spirit, bleeding into my own spiritual power like a strange earthy miasma. The whirlwind abated and I looked up at them.

"Whad'ja do ta me?" I asked, looking down at my hands, trying to see the difference.

I could smell that earth power in me, mingling with my own scent... it was still in there.

"I'm sorry Renji," she apologized sincerely. "It was the only way I could think of you get you to take me to my boy."

I didn't want an apology, I wanted to know what she'd done to me!

"what have you done?" I demanded again.

"A binding spell," the Mountain Spirit said. "Written by the power of the Earth, here in my stronghold. You're bound to Isana Rourke by your mortal bones to help her find her son and return them to this world."

Wha-? Bound? How could that be? You couldn't bind a Soul Reaper, Soul Reapers were death! You can't bind death!

But I was mortal now.

Falling on my sword was starting to look more and more like an attractive prospect. Only the thought that if I died as a human that I might be placed back into the cycle of death and rebirth stopped me. I didn't want to go back to Hangdog, not in this life or any other.

"I'm bound to serve a mortal?" I demanded, staring at the both of them in shock and disbelief.

"Until she releases you or you fulfill the obligations of your contract, yes," the Mountain Spirit said. "You fight for her, serve her and protect her while you track down her son and then when you find him, you will protect them both while you bring them safely to the mortal realm."

I had just been made into a mortal slave? What?

"An' what if I tell ya ta take yer offer and blow it outcher ass?" I demanded, folding my arms over my chest as a signal that I wasn't going nowhere or doin' nuthin'.

"You have no choice," the mountain spirit said. "The bond is set."

"I'm sorry," she said sadly. "I-"

"Sorry? If you were really sorry you'd release me!" I snapped.

"I wish I could, I really do, but you're the only way I have of getting to my baby, and if I let you go into that other place alone I won't know what happens, if you succeed or not. At least this way I'll know for certain. I'm not your jailer, we both have the same goal, I just need to know what happened to my son."

"I'da still helped you," I growled angrily. "Ida brought 'im back to ya."

"I sense you're a good person and that you would have tried your best, but your Soul Society still holds power over you and I couldn't be certain which power would be stronger in the end. I don't doubt your honor, but you said yourself that you're not always free to do what you want."

"Well I sure as hell am not now!" I said, still angry with her for tricking me.

I strained against the bonds that held me in place and managed to raise myself to a position where I only kneeled on one knee but could go no further, even as I exerted myself against the sword that I had point down next to my body to rise to my feet.

I was pissed. I was so mad at this woman I could chew nails. How dare she slap a spell on me to make me into her little pup, how dare she take my will away from me! I glared hard at her with all of the rage and ferocity I could manage and had the satisfaction of seeing her back up a few paces, fear written on her face.

"Please don't be mad," she begged. "What if it were your son? What if it were someone you loved dearly, the center of your world, in trouble? Wouldn't you do absolutely everything you could to get him back, to keep him safe?"

I really, really, _really_, hated that her words touched on a subject that was still a sore one with me. I couldn't claim ignorance when she put it to me like that. If it were Rukia, I would absolutely anything and everything in my power to get to where she was. I wouldn't hesitate to walk straight into hell, I wouldn't flinch to use someone else as a means to get her back, and I wouldn't care who it was.

"Fine," I growled. "Since it seems I have no choice anyway, you can come with me into the Dark Between and git yer son back. I'll use my strength to protect you."

My boss and Rukia would kill me and then hunt down my next ten reincarnations to kill me again if I let harm come to this woman. Besides, it wasn't exactly like I didn't understand her. I couldn't truly be angry with a woman who loved her kid enough to do whatever it took to get him back. Part of me even admired her spunk.

:_Fine, so it looks like I'm playin' guardian knight to her princess for the next little while_,: I grumbled to myself.

"Then in return," she said firmly, actually looking a little bit like a princess accepting an oath of fealty from her knight. "I promise I will release you when my son and I are safe together or when it's become obvious that we can't possibly go any further."

It sounded like a fair deal to me, or at least as fair as it was going to get.

"And as payment for my help in binding him to your aid Miss Isana," the Mountain Spirit prompted. Holding up a scroll and inserting it into a green and gold enameled carying tube and twisting the seals over the ends. "Please remember your part of our bargain and see that this gets to the Court of Genbu."

"A deal's a deal," Isana said, accepting the letter and tucking it into her enormous sling bag.

I couldn't help feeling like I'd just been _had_.

"Well then good," the spirit said. "I'll open a portal to the next Realm over for you."

"How do you know that we'll find a trace of the Shadow there?" I asked, looking at him suspiciously. I wouldn't put it past the fox-eyed little spirit to send us on a wild goose chase for his own amusement.

"Shadows wield immense power even in their current faded forms, but they still remember their former glory and many of them long for homes of their own again now that their former Realms have eroded away to practically nothing."

"Meaning?" Isana prompted.

"Meaning that they are extremely reluctant to waste any more of their own personal power than is absolutely necessary. Building a Portal from world to world takes knowledge, focus and power, but the farther that realm is located in relation to another realm in the Dangai, the stronger the portal must be, and the more power it takes to maintain it over long distances. A Shadow can build a portal to appear of disappear at will into and out of the mortal realm with relative ease because the mortal realm by its nature has a porous sort of fabric making it easy to access, but as for the other realms in the Dangai, most of those were built with privacy in mind, as sanctuaries for powerful gods... they are not at all easily accessible. A Shadow will cross the shortest distance possible using a portal but then will rely upon the Gate system to get it wherever else in the Dangai that it needs to go. All you have to do is pick up its trail from the closest realm and follow it."

:_That's all huh_?: I thought with heavy irony.

* * *

**Here it comes, the journey begins. **


	28. Crazy bout a sharp dressed man

"Well come on then," I said, climbing to my feet. "We're not getting any younger."

"Shouldn't we be a little more prepared if we're going to go running off into places you've never been before?" Isana asked.

"I have my sword, what else do we need?" I asked.

"There you go again, thinking like a Soul Reaper," the Mountain Spirit said. "You're mortal now, so your body will feel extremes of heat and cold. Plus, you'll get hungry. You'll need food and different clothes because some of the Realms you will be visiting will be very hot and others will be very very cold. You'll also need soap and things to wash with, unless you want your enemies to _smell _you coming."

I scowled in irritation. I was not in the mood to be weighed down by carrying a buncha crap while I was trying to get somewhere and I said so, eager to just get on the trail already.

"Fortunately, I have a solution for that," the spirit said.

He reached for the satchel that Isana had bought at the store down the mountain.

"Ah good, this was made purely from materials that were grown here in my lands. I can work with this."

He muttered some arcane incantation that I didn't catch and a whirlwind of green energy swirled up around him, centering on the bag a few minutes later, he was done.

"There," he said, sounding satisfied. "This will hold anything you can fit inside the opening without getting any bigger or heavier, you should be able to carry your supplies easily with that."

"Oh, thank you very much," Isana said.

I just looked suspiciously at him. He sure was doing us an awful lot of favors without asking for anything other than for us to act as a delivery service. I didn't like it.

"I guess we'll have to go back down to that little town at the foot of the mountain and get whatever we're gonna need for the trip there," I said in resignation.

"Here," I said kneeling down with my back to her. "Get on."

"I can walk," she said defensively.

"Not fast enough," I replied gruffly, still a little mad at her for binding me up despite understanding why she did it. "I can get us there faster."

She debated for a moment then reluctantly let me carry her piggyback. I stepped out of the cave and flashed down to the edge of the town at the base of the mountain in three movements.

"whoah!" she exclaimed as she found herself standing next to the road with the town in sight after only a few short moments.

I just handed her all the money I still had left from beating those low-rank gangsters up, she was a woman after all and shopping was their baliwick (I'd seen for myself the way Matsumoto could blow through her paycheck in a single afternoon, Isana didn't look the sort to spend money on useless crap though), it was the most sensible thing to do. She was the one who would know how much things would cost and if we were getting cheated or not.

"Get whatever you think we'll need for the trip," I said. "I don't know much about your world, so you'd know better than me what a mortal body needs to keep going. Just make sure ya get a lot of food, I don't wanna waste all my time hunting and foraging when I should be tracking down that Shadow and finding a way to unbind me from this body."

"Um, okay," she said looking surprised and pleased.

I found a nearby bench to loiter around on and waited while she went into a nearby collection of stores. I kept an eye out for trouble but in a place this small and sleepy there wasn't much trouble to be found. I wished I could do some more practice forms, but I was wary of attracting an audience. People were already eying me suspiciously as they walked by, and this was me _without _my tatoos. I wondered idly what they'd all think of me is they could see my Soul Reaper form with its knotwork of tatoos all down my face and neck and body.

"_Or at least they **used **to be_,: I thought to myself.

Since I had unblocked my chakra and removed the bindings that Zabimaru had placed on me I wondered if my mandatory tatoos would still be there on my true form, or if 'd have to have them inked onto me for real this time. Minus maybe the ones on my foehead to bind my brow chakra. It was nice to be distinctive but lets not get crazy with it.

It seemed like forever later that she finally came out of the strip mall with her arms loaded down with stuff, bags and boxes and packages. Geeze, how much stuff did she think we were gonna need?

"I got you some new clothes!" she announced, extending a wrapped package my way. "Now go change out of those, people think you're a gangster and that you're going to mug them."

I shot her a wry look for her commentary on my appearance and obediently found a nearby place with the door marked men on it, changing in one of the stalls. I'd sort of gotten accustomed to the practice of putting new coverings on my gigai, though Ichigo still gave me crap about the clothes that I had on my original gigai, something about them being dated from the Seventies... but what did he expect? I had my first mission in the Seventies and that was what they wore back then. I saw no need to waste money on updating my old gigai or its clothes when both of them worked just fine. I had to admit that Isana was a good judge of sizes because the clothes she picked out for my new body didn't strain across the shoulders, like most of the clothes here seemed to. The clothes she'd picked out were simple enough, plain dark blue jeans in a cut that was comfortable to move around in and an ordinary black shirt with no sleeves. It was a little strange looking at myself in a mirror and not seeing my tattoos on my forehead and my hair shaved up into two high, pointed arches to accommodate the markings. I hadn't looked this ordinary since I'd been in Soul Reaper Academy.

When I got back out Isana was sorting through her packages, opening boxes and removing contents. I was amazed, and a little worried, over how much she had managed to aqquire that wasn't food.

"I have four more outfits for you so you have a change of clothes, plus I got these on sale-"

She held up two very thick knee-length parkas with fake fur-trimmed hoods on them.

"Just in case we hit some-place cold. And I figured that we might be staying out in the open, so I got this-"

Some medium-sized tube-shaped bag with a picture on it.

"...To sleep in, and this camp stove to cook on, plus utensils and camp cook gear and tarps to keep the rain off and hatchets and stools. And i got a lot of food because they were having a sale..."

Well that was a relief.

And took a while to unpack all the stuff she'd bought and tell me about it. She seemed pretty pleased with herself though I didn;t know what half of it was supposed to do so I just nodded and looked enthusiastic. She pushed it all into that bag of hers and we were both taken aback by how it didn't seem to change size or shape much at all. Well, it did get a little bigger and that suggested that it had a maximum capacity but it seemed to be well enough for us.

"Okay, let's go now," I said impatiently. She got to her feet, secured her bag and nodded at me. I flashed us both back up the mountain where the mountain spirit was waiting for us.

"We're ready," she said as I set her on her feet.

"are you sure you wanna do this?" I asked her even as the Mountain Spirit began to chant the incantation that would open a Portal between worlds.

"I'm sure," she said firmly. "Whatever it takes, I'm going to find my son. I won't rest until he's safe in my arms again."

Given what had happened in her previous life, I guessed I could see that. Alright then, she wasn't going to be talked out of it and I had already given her my word I'd help her as much as I could. It looked like we were in this then.

"The portal opens," he said, with a final shake of his sistrum.

We exchanged a long speaking look, and walked side by side into the darkness.

* * *

**Okay, last update before my sisters and I head out to Akon (the anime convention in Dallas). I look forward to it every year and this year I'm looking even more forward to it because we're taking my five year old sister to her first con and get this, since we raised her on Sailor Moon (she loves Sailor Moon) we're all cosplaying this year as the Sailor Scouts! Kyaa! She's so cute, in her little Sailor Rini costume! Kyaa! So, I shall be having fun there, I hope you all enjoyed this small chapter (set up and transition before the real journey gets started) and I'll see you all in a week.**


	29. Catching the Scent

The tunnel we found ourselves on looked a lot different from the one I was used to. The floor of the tunnel was like a path made out of stars and the walls around swirled with streaks of light moving in an ever-twisting spiral. I felt a tremble around me as the portal started to slowly iris shut behind us. Knowing that as soon as that portal shut down the tunnel would collapse, destroying us, I picked Isana up and rushed toward the end. We were able to make it there quickly because the tunnel wasn't terribly long and stepped through the terminal on the other end.

"Where are we?" she wondered aloud as we stepped out into a strange new world.

The sky was a reddish color and clouded over. The land around us stretched beside a strange stagnant sea that smelled heavily of brine and decay. The beach-head was riddled by worn, toppled-over pillars sticking up out of the sand; the skeletons of ancient buildings long fallen to ruin. The horizon of the sea stretched on forever in one direction. Dotting along the horizon lines of the land-side, in among the ruins that were overgrown with vines, were platforms with great rounded arches on them. I could sense and smell a curious sort of energy emanating from them and I wasn't sure if it was some strange terrain feature of this new Realm we found ourselves in, some kind of trap, or what it might be and even I was a little hesitant to go sticking my nose in a potential bear trap.

"Dunno," I said absently, already rolling the unfamiliar scents over my tongue, trying to detect the scent of the Shadow we'd come to track.

I wasn't getting anything yet, but we'd just gotten here. I could sense a strange humming feeling of energy skittering over my reiatsu. It wasn't anything I recognized but considering the fact that we were in an entirely new sort of place, I should probably get used to coming across stuff that I wasn't familiar with. Strange new worlds.

"Let's go," I said, pointing in the direction that I sensed the strange reiatsu coming from, keeping my nose to the wind, hoping to catch a scent.

She seemed to notice my preoccupation and thankfully stayed silent to let me work without distraction. We walked along the beach for a little way, coming closer to the nearest of the archways. Isana, curious and investigative, walked up to the arch as we approached it before I could grab her arm to pull her back and tell her to be careful. I had a bad feeling of premonition that this was going to be a regular occurance throughout our new-made relationship. Great, out of all the people I could be saddled with for this little journey across the wild and unexplored Realms of the Dangai, I had to be stuck with one of those types that was always rushing in and getting into trouble and who didn't have the strength or skill to get themselves out of it. It looked like I was going to be bored for the next several days.

The platform where I sensed the strange energy coming from glowed with lines written in light in a strange pattern. A large circle with circles in an equidistant triangle around it flared to light. On each of those three circles dotted along the larger circle had three smaller circles with a symbol in each of them. Curious, Isana touched the symbols and dragged her finger along one of them. It moved in a circular motion, twisting like a dial on an old rotary telephone. The symbol that touched along the line of the largest circle was the one that was brightly lit while the other two symbols were a dull grey. Isana twisted the other two symbol circles, changing the positions of each symbol. A line of light from each symbol appeared and pointed towards the center of the main ring, forming a small humming dot of power in the center.

"Hmm," Isana murmured. "I think this is how that they get these gateways to work. You must just change the setting of these symbols in order to change where the gate goes to... but I wonder how you get the gate to open up."

She reached forward to touch the light at the center of the circle but I firmly took her hand and pulled her away.

"Okay, enough playtime for you missy, maybe you shouldn't go toying around with things you don't really understand. We don't know for certain what they do."

Privately though, I was sort of inclined to think she'd pegged it right. It made sense. Even so I didn't really think that it was a very good idea to go toying around with those things; who knew where they might take us if we just started entering random coordinates and running around willy nilly. I was just going to ignore for now the fact that tracking a mysterious enemy I'd only seen once across a bunch of equally random worlds wasn't a whole lot better as far as scenarios went.

:_Nevermind_,: I told myself. :_Let's just get going. That Shadow isn't getting any closer to being found and snuffed while we're sitting here woolgathering_.:

I could pick up small things scurrying about in the underbrush, and my sense of smell picked up the scent of strange spiritual residues but nothing that smelled like what I was looking for yet.

"C'mon," I beckoned, pulling her off the platform and heading towards the strange energy I sensed. "Let's keep moving."

She didn't need any further urging. The curiousity over the strange symbols and the arch visibly faded at the prospect of finding her son again. We continued walking through the sandy, dune-weed covered land by the sea. It was a strange place, a place where the wind howled. Seeing the staggered ruins hanging about made the scene seem somehow more lonely. This must have been one of the abandoned Realms that the Mountain Spirit had talked about.

Not quite so abandoned as I had at first thought, I discovered a moment later as we passed too close to one of the vine covered ruins and a plant-tentacle shot out at us. Instinctively I dodged out of the way, but Isana did not have any fighters instincts and she screamed in fright as the tentacle grabbed her by the waist and lifted her up.

"Howl, Zabimaru!" I commanded.

The immense hour-glass-shaped blade materialized and I flicked it upwards in a light slash and severed the tentacle. There was a screaching roar of pain from the nearby building and the greenery began to thrash and move.

In all my years of fighting Hollows, and even in going to Hueco Mundo the fight some Espada, never before had I seen anything like _this_. I wasn't sure exactly what to call it, parts of it looked plant-like and other parts were animal-like. It had a bulb-shaped body with bandy, furred, reverse-haunched legs and tentacles growing out of the back of it. It didn't look like the enemies I was accustomed to fighting; Hollows could be monstrous enough, but they were usually a skeletal sort of monstrous, this creature looked more biological. It sprang at us and, even though I had no idea what the hell it was or did, I knew what I was supposed to do with it... kill it!

I slashed at it with my sword, lopping off the tentacles that launched themselves at me. I also made sure to cut off the tentacle that it had wrapped around Isana and once she hit the ground I told her to get back, which she did at top speed. It tried to spit some kind of green juice at me but I moved out of the way and countered by taking out the little nozzle things on both sides of its body with a quick flick of Zabimaru. I was pleased to feel that my body seemed to be liking fighting with Zabimaru's new form. The plant-critter next tried shooting darts at me but I blocked them easily with the flat of Zabimaru's blade and followed in to slice off the top bulb that was dealing out the darts. Once it was disarmed I started hacking away at the main body. It was great good fun. Not much later, the plant-thing cave one last chittering creel and died. I stuck my sword straight through the heart of it to be sure. With that motion, a small burst of light flared up and tiny motes of rainbow-colored light began to leak out of it as the corpse disintegrated, rising up into the air like puff-mushroom spores. It was surprisingly pretty.

The thing had been dispatched in a little over a minute, not my _best _time, but I was working with an unfamiliar weapon and I didn't know anything about the monster so I guessed I could give myself a little slack in this case. I'd do better next time. There was one mystery solved, the Realm might be abandoned but there were still hostiles hanging around. They weren't Hollows, but they seemed fun enough to kill, albeit a little easy.

"Wow," Isana said into the silence, looking at me in amazement.

I didn't bother hiding the smug smirk on my face. If she thought this was impressive, she should see my bankai.

"Let's go," was all I said.

After all, we had a quarry to catch and I didn't intend on remaining a bound vassal to anyone for very long.

"Uh, sure," she said. I noted that she stuck a lot closer to me after that and eyes the nearby greenery suspiciously.

:_Aha_!: I thought in triumph as I at last caught a very faint whiff of the scent I was looking for; the smell of burnt metal and temple incense.

"What is it?" she asked eagerly, seeing me tense up and turn sharply in one direction.

I probably looked like an English Pointer.

"Found it," I muttered, setting off firmly in the direction that I could smell the scent.

Not coincidentally I was sure, the scent headed straight towards one of those arches built in top of the platforms. The one that had a strong energy emanating from it, that probably meant that it had recently been used. We encountered a small nest of about five of those plant-critters along the way before we managed to reach the platform. Now that I knew what to expect, taking care of them wasn't hard, the only real challenge was keeping between the attacking enemies and my charge, Miss Isana. We walked up the stone steps to the gateway platform and as we approached the circle in the stone in front of the arch it glowed into life. Three sigils were already selected from the nine and placed along the main line. The glowing dot in the center seemed to be waiting for us to do something.

:_Well, the main gate in the Seireitei requires that a Soul Reaper use his reiatsu to access it. Maybe the same principle applies here_,: I thought.

I centered myself and summoned a small red ball of my reiatsu to hover above the palm of my hand and fed it into the glowing ring hovering in the air above the center of the main ring. The energy I fed to it dispersed along the ring in a small flare and the empty air inside the gateway shimmered like heat haze and flickered a bit. Then nothing. We waited for a beat and exchanged a glance.

"Maybe it needs more power?" Isana suggested. Just what I was thinking.

I summoned up a greater amount of reiatsu, forming a basketball-sized globe of it in between my two hands and unleashing power from more than just my bottom chakra, I went up through orange into yellow and kept pouring and condensing it until it started to turn green. Satisfied, I fed that ball of energy into the circle. The pattern on the floor flared to light and the gate opened properly, just like the Senkaimon in Seireitei that I was used to. I didn't know how long we had before it collapsed so I just grabbed up Miss Isana and flashed across the threshold before she could blink. I ran quickly down the long white tunnel that seemed to swirl on all sides with a strange milky, misty-white glow. The path beneath my feet seemed to be made of a sort of gravel of starlight and all around me the tunnel walls seemed to move in a constant spiraling motion.

We emerged on the other side in a dark-looking realm with bare dead earth, dilapidated ancient-looking buildings done in an ancient Moroccan style and scrubby, dead, droopy trees. Oh, joy. I set the woman down on her feet and straightened, looking around me. I weeded out the scent of the new realm I was in, the smell of bare earth and rotting plants, and quickly isolated the scent of the Shadow-creature I was chasing. It was stronger than it had been in the other world. We'd gotten really lucky, it could so easily have ended up that the scent was gone. I guessed that the lingering trace made by a forgotten god was something that stuck around for a little while. Still, it was an immense stroke of luck that we'd located it at all.

"Can you smell it? Was it here?" Isana asked.

I nodded, already hot on the trail. She followed silently in my wake as, with one hand on Zabimaru alert for trouble, and the rest of me concentrating on following the trail, we began to walk through the strange realm.

It wasn't a very pleasant place, most of it seemed to be subsumed in darkness. I could smell the stagnant rot of a swamp nearby, and it was difficult to keep track of one scent with all of those other smells, most of them unpleasant, vying for dominance. I had to go back and backtrack once or twice when my nose and tongue got overwhelmed by the pervading stench of decay that saturated this place.

"I wonder what kind of god lived in a place like this," Isana muttered in distaste as she looked around. "Maybe it used to look nice but the real estate value sure has gone downhill."

I wasn't paying much attention to her, being distracted by trying to find the place where I had last smelled its trail. Isana picked up something shiny from off the ground and held it up to show me.

"Hey look at thi-" she called over to me, shortly before the ground began to rumble and shake.

I sighed inwardly. This girl... I wanted to call her a girl even though she was clearly a woman approaching her thirty's, she had a young-looking face and the attention span of a butterfly. Like a kid she seemed to find the shortest, most direct route, into the nearest spot of trouble. This was gonna be a lo-o-ong trip, I could tell already.

* * *

**Well, I'm back safe from Akon and boy did I ever have fun. You're all gonna be so jealous. I scored myself a drool-worthy pin-up of Renji. With His hair down. In the moonlight. Taking off his top. Ahhh, bare-chested yumminess! I got it both poster and in a bookmark. Yay! I got some other goodies too, so fun! My little sister was too cute for words! Well, okay enough of my silliness, i hope you all enjoyed the new chapter and look forward to all the great fights that Isana gets Renji into.**


	30. Battles, Beads and Binding Spells

The ground trembled as something massive rose up out of it, like a sea-snake rising up out of the waters. At first, it was so large and strangely shaped that I couldn't take in all of it at once. It was scaled and furred at the same time with massive limbs, and enormous torso, claws, spikes, glowing beady eyes and more teeth than any self-respecting creature should have. Hoo boy, could she pick 'em or what? I found a happy, feral smile stretch across my face. Finally! A real fight!

With a warrior's whoop of excitement I called up Zabimaru and went at it. It felt just like fighting a Hollow, the size and strength in the beast was enormous but that only added on an extra filip of excitement as I sliced, slashed, stabbed and cut away at it, rolling, ducking and dodging around its ponderous, heavy swings with the familiarity of long practice. The new Zabimaru was a feather in my hand, but a long sharp pointed one, as I sliced away. The thing howled with rage as my cuts struck home again and again. I neatly dodged a swipe by one of its massive forearms and brought my sword up to block a snap from its jaws when it finally managed to land a hit on me with its backswing and i went rolling top over teakettle in a tight crouch.

"Renji!" Isana cried out in dismay, starting forward, presumably to help.

"Stay back!" I snapped at her in annoyance. See, this is why I hadn't wanted her coming along in the first place, the first sign of a minor little scuffle and she starts getting all nervous and concerned. The last thing I needed was to have her getting in the way of my fight. Fortunately, she had the good sense to follow my orders an' stay the hell out of it.

Undeterred in the least I leapt enthusiastically back into the fray. The beast by now was bleeding from several long cuts and swipes in many areas of its body, and while angered, still showed no signs of slowing down. That suited me fine, I wasn't wanting it to end there either. He planted a fist into the earth and a great trench with sharpened spikes of rock jutting up at it shot my way. That was a bit of a surprise, some Hollows came with spirit attacks, but not manny of them. Still I'd fought enough of those types to be familiar with how to counter on this new type of enemy. I just leapt up into the air and flashed over next to him, swiping at his left arm that I was currently in the process of trying to hack off. The thing was as thick as a tree trunk! I got a stab to the back of its knee as it beat the ground with its other fist to summon up more rock spikes where I was standing and that was when I flashed around to the other side and finally managed in a nice two-handed swing, to hack through the rest of the arm I'd been working on. The beast screamed its rage and defiance and swung, one armed, to hit me. I darted in and used it's swing against it to add power to my own swing and cut halfway through its other arm. There was blood everywhere. The beast bit at me again and I smashed its snout with the flat of my blade. I swung around and down, with a two-handed slice, and managed to sever its other arm. It snapped at me with its teeth, unwilling to give up. I flashed back a few paces and took a running leap, slashing neatly downward in a diagonal across its chest, Zabimaru cutting through its body like a hot knife through butter. In my experience (with Hollow's) this thing was beat. It gave out one last lingering howl of pain as it sank to its knees, then turned into a crumbling heap of stone and didn't move anymore.

:_That's how it's done_.: I thought smugly, resting Zabimaru on my shoulder as I surveryed the last trace of it turning into sand.

"Heh," I grunted in satisfaction.

That'd teach it ta mess with a Lieutenant of the Court Guard Squads. I turned and walked back towards Isana, ready to get on with our quest, when she, pale-faced, raised a tembling hand and pointed at me.

What?

No, wait, she was pointing behind me.

"Uh, Renji..." she started.

I looked back.

There seemed to be a small red bead slowly hovering up from the ground. The stone that the beast had turned to after I'd beaten it turned to a sandy gravel and spiraled up and around the red bead. The dust-spiral resolved itself into the form of the creature I'd just gotten done fighting. Oh, so it was back for more eh? I pulled Zabimaru in front of me and rushed at it just as though it were any other Hollow. Before it could even finish reforming itself and start an attack, I nailed it with a long downward slash across its torso. The half finished monster sank right back down where it had come from.

Now stay there.

I was about to turn around and head back to Miss Isana again when that damn bead popped up out of the rubble and started floating up again, the rocks around it started to quiver. So it _was _the bead. I smacked it with my sword but instead of cutting it or smashing it, a red barrier-field snapped up around the bead and it continued to rise, undeterred. I stood back on my heels and considrered it as the rocks began to melt into sand and started moving again. It was pretty clear to me that I was going to be fighting the same creature over and over again unless I destroyed the heart of the beast. It was somewhat the same for Hollows, unless a Reaper destroyed the mask the damn thing would just keep regenerating over time. Unfortunately that damn barrier feild kept me from getting to the bead...

"Renji, Keep it distracted!" Isana said suddenly.

I looked back at her in a sort of non-plussed confusion. Distracting it wasn't a problem, but what the hell did she think _she _was going to do?

"Solid Firmament. Growing life," she chanted as her body assumed a posture of a ki-dope concentrating on working a Hado. Oh, so she thought she'd try that binding spell huh? Well, I guessed that it couldn't hurt.

I charged at the creature as it formed hacking and slashing away at it as it swung and snapped at me. Good times. It put up a fight, but I wouldn't have been satisfied if it hadn't. I kept one ear cocked to Miss Isana chanting in the background, the strange feeling of energy of her odd mortal power buzzing in the air about her and the scent of moist growing things saturating the back of my tongue as she worked on that spell of hers. The stone-golem thing kept swinging, its attention focused securely on me as the nearest threat, and I made sure to keep it there as I nipped in and out, taking out limbs that promptly reattached themselves. This would have been frustrating as an ordinary battle, but since I was just excersizing and getting a feel for working with Zabimaru's new form, it was more entertaining than anything else.

"...Stone and glass take steps to the north. Bind!" Miss Isana shouted.

The beast was suddenly bound and shackled. I cut off it's head and the rest of its limbs. Zabimaru was really good for that.

The beast fell back to the earth. Miss Isana stepped forward and picked up the metal thing she'd messed with earlier, it looked like the setting for a necklace.

"Wandering path, sword of the warrior. Metal that finds it source in the earth," she chanted.

A greenish aura surrounded her, not unlike a lighter version of the one that had surrounded the Mountain Spirit. It felt different from ordinary reiatsu though, like it found its source somewhere elese. Strangely, as she chanted the words, a circle of light flared up around her, quickly writing itself into a complex design with lines and sigils in a circle on the ground around her feet.

"...Bind!" she commanded pointing at the bead.

The red bead, halfway up into the air, shook for a long moment and flared as if it were stuggling against something, then flew straight at Miss Isana and the metal talisman she was holding. The empty metal prongs in front of the talisman wrapped around the bead like a cage. There was a final flare of green light from the circle around Isana and then the bead went dark. I looked around and listened cautiously. Nothing. Part of me was a little disappointed that there was no more fun monster to fight but it wasn't fun if it was so easy to beat and the same type of creature all the time.

"This is why you shouldn't just go around picking stuff up off the ground," I said into the silence, sheathing Zabimaru.

Miss Isana made a face at me and said

"Let's just go."

* * *

**I just realized tonight that Thursday had passed me by without an update but i do have an excuse, I had a Spanish composition due that morning and then I had work in the afternoon and evening so I was simply too busy. I don't think I even got on the computer, which is rare for me. Anyway, here's your chapter. Its abit of a short one... but some good stuff is coming up in the future. Hey... I just realized, is it _thirty chapters_ already? Wow... I want to thank my loyal reveiwers; BloodyRoses, War 90, Kuro-okami, Crazy Ace, Angel Ire. You guys are the reason I keep posting this monster. So you keep lovin' it and I'll keep making sure you get your fix**. **Until Next time!**

**Nightheart**


	31. Misdirections

**Here it is people. Pay attention, the plot thickens.**

I picked up the Shadows scent-trail again and the two of us walked briskly after it. There weren't as many of those Gateway-platforms in this world as there had been in the other one but that just made the trail easier to follow. There were, however, more little nasties hiding in the woods to spring out at us and I was kept from getting bored by being able to slice away at them for kicks. They were all really weird-lookin' critters; some of them looked like someone had taken a bunch of different kinds of animals and mashed them together or given them traits found in other sorts of beasts, other of the creatures looked like someone had given the weirdest looking plant a person could come up with the power to walk around on two (or a hundred) feet and attack people. There were vines that came to life and cats-like creatures that blew fire, there were creatures with more than one head, there were things that looked like someone had crossed a tree a jellyfish and had decided to give the result legs so that it could move around and there were other creatures that looked like someone took a milipede and decided to give each segment a fire-breathing head. There was, however, no other beast that was big and fun like the one that Isana had found earlier though, and I was privately a little disappointed by that despite the fact I wanted to get this Shadow I was chasing as quickly as possible. But all the small-fry kept me entertained as we continued our journey across the Realm, following the trail of the Shadow. It was during a relatively peaceful spell that Miss Isana decided to open a conversation.

"Hey renji," she said into the silence as we walked on a dirt path through a wooded area. It was mostly silent anyway, there was the sound of crickets and the chirp of birds in the background, it was when those sounds went dead that I pulled out Zabimaru and prepared to fight.

"Yeah?" I asked curiously.

"I think there's something different about that thing that I bound into that necklace earlier."

"Different as opposed to what?" I asked. "Everything in this weird place is different."

I hadn't seen a single thing yet that I would attribute as being completely normal for me. There were no Hollows here, there were no people or any buildings. It was just one weird setting after another. The monsters, even the tiny critters, were all weird looking things that I had never seen or heard of before.

"Most of the creatures that you've been killing for the last little while have been kinda small, and when you kill them, that stardust-looking stuff leaks out of them and blows away in the wind," she said.

That was another odd thing we'd noticed about the feral creatures inhabiting this realm, once i landed a killing blow they disintegrated into a sort of dusty-light that glowed like stars and blew away like puff-mushroom spores. It was pretty and it saved me from having to worry about whether or not the creature was actually dead.

"But that thing from earlier kept coming back. There was no stardust stuff. And for another thing, it had that strange bead that looks like it was actually _meant _to be part of that necklace."

"So it was a booby trap an' ya boobied into it," I said with a shrug.

"What of it?"

"Well don't you think that that's a little strange?" she asked.

Hn, now that she mentioned it...

"Here, lemme smell it," I said reaching a hand backwards and gesturing she should hand it to me.

When she put the large talisman in my hand I was a little surprised at how heavy it felt. I brought it up near me and took a whiff.

"Yeah," I said after a minute. "Yer right, that bead has the smell of Shadow all over it."

I guess I hadn't noticed because I'd been so busy having fun.

"You think the Shadow might have left it behind?" she thought.

"Hmm.. could be," I said. "I dunno how smart or dumb Shadows are. I've only encountered the one, and when I did, it wasn't so much into talking as it was in trying to get at the kids."

And turning me mortal, let's not forget that.

Deep down I had sort of thought of Shadows as just being like another sort of Hollow, big and stupid and powerful. What if they were more like the Espada? Smart and fast and good fighters. If so, and it knew we were actually after it, times ahead could get interesting. I took another whiff of the bead, just to see what else I could pick up about it and caught something odd, or I guessed it was odd... it was hard to tell what was normal and what wasn't when everything was so strange.

"What?" Isana asked, seeing by my very easy to read face that I had picked something up.

"The bead doesn't just smell like Shadow," I said. "It smells your spell and this place... and-"

:_The structure of this hado smells very, very familiar_,: I thought with a sinking feeling of dread.

I had served under Aizen along with Momo and Kira for a number of years and, even though he's a traitor now, all three of us had liked him then. The one thing I had learned about him in my tenure in his squad was that he was _incredibly _adept at kido. He wasn't powerful, or at least, he wasn't terribly powerful. He'd probably never make it in Squad Two with all of thier kido powerhouses, but what power he did have he was _masterfully _effective with. He knew ways to twist and turn even the simplest of hado into doing something I could never in a hundred years begin to imagine. Then again, I wasn't exactly known for creative thinking either. The point was that Aizen, while not powerful, was _beyond _a master-level at manipulating spells. I couldn't detect his scent on the bead, but the twisty way that the spell had been set up... that had his fingerprints all over it.

:_Could he be moving here, in the Dangai_?: I wondered.

He wasn't in Hueco Mundo anymore, the advance team that Second and Eleventh had sent in to clear out and investigate the former lair of the Espada hadn't turned up so much as a nail paring of his. We had Gin Ichimaru in the tower, but everyone knew _he _wasn't talking. We weren't sure about Tousen, most people thought that he was still with Aizen. Aizen was still out there somewhere, plotting, setting things up to make his move. Myself, and it seemed like everyone else, had simply assumed that he was hiding somewhere in the Mortal Realm, keeping a low profile while he planned his next move. What if he was here? What if he'd tripped across a Gate or a weak point in the Mortal Realm and discovered the Divine Realms spotted throughout the Dangai?

~**_...And there was one other access to the system, around the time that Aizen looked up the information about the oh-ken..._**~

The report that Nemu had dug up for me echoed back, only adding to the sinking feeling of dread clenching inside my stomach. It had to have been Aizen who had accessed information about the Believed back then, so he knew that there was something else out there. There was a larger than average possibility that he had investigated the matter. After all, if I had stumbled across it, how hard could it be? And my former Captain wasn't the sort to let a possible advantage slip through his fingers out of laziness, he'd have stored the information away for later use, I was sure of it.

"You look like you're thinking pretty heavily about something," isana noted after a little while.

I guess my face was just that easy to read.

"That bead o' yers just gave me a thought," I said honestly.

"Well I have nothing to do right now, a penny for your thoughts? Maybe I can help."

I shrugged and explained a little bit to her.

"... so this traitor Captain of yours, Aizen, wants to become a god himself by breaking into the Imperial Court of the Realm of the Dead and killing the Emperor.," she surmized after the explanation. "And you and your other Reaper friends got together and destroyed the thing he was going to use to make a key to get into the castle but he escaped and now none of you can find him, do I have it right?"

"Basically," I said. "That bead you bound up... something about it reminded me of Aizen. I usta serve under him, before I was transferred to another squad. One of my best friends, Momo Hinamori was his Lieutenant before he showed himself as a traitor, and one of my other best friends was his co-conspirators lieutenant. Anyway, the way that hado was made, it was all tied up and twisty, just like the way he useta make spells. He gave me a demonstration once on the art of free thinking when working with kido, I remember being so awed and impressed by it but part of me now things that he might have done it just ta rub it in my face that I'll never reach his level."

"Hmmmm..." Isana said, musing to herself as we walked along.

"I'm a woman so maybe this doesn't apply to him seeing a women are more inclined to common sense than men," I shot her a dry look for her comment.

"But I never have only one key to get into the house. I have the key I carry with me everyday and use but I also have a spare key that I keep carefully hidden, or with a trusted friend, to get into my house. So, if one plan didn't work for him, he's probably got a back-up plan. There's more than one way to get power I'd imagine."

I pondered that as I followed the scent of burning metal and incense towards a gateway platform on a high hill five or six miles away from us.

It could be that he might try using the Divine Realms in the Dangai to gain access to the Imperial Court, provided that access to the Court could be gotten that way at all. I didn't know much about the way the Divine Realms worked other than what had been explained to me, but it sort of made sesne to me that the different Imperial Courts (it was so _strange _to think of there being more than just the Court of Souls) might have some kind of diplomatic relations with each other. Maybe Aizen would try to go through the other Courts.

:_But Aizen ain't really the type to go knockin' politely on some ones door and beggin' ta be granted an audience,_: I thought to myself.

No, he was more of a go in, flatten the resistance and take what he wanted by superior strength sort of fellow. Fortunately for us, in the last days of our confrontation we had managed to decimate nearly all of his main forces, and the few that had escaped back to Hueco Mundo and the Citadel of Las Noches there were now currently being rounded up and exterminated by a cooperative assault by the Thirteen Court Guard Squads. Aizen had no army with which to take over another Court.

:_But just because he has no army, doesn't mean he's not up to something.:_

If one path to get his own Oh-ken and access to the Court of the Emperor wasn't working out for Aizen, would he then try another path? Or..

:_Or did he know about this path all along, and the other path was just a distraction_?: I wondered.

Gaah! It was ridiculous for me to try to figure out all the weird twisty ways that people like _him _thought! They could never come at anything in a plain sort of way but they always came at everything sideways. Even his own Zanpaktou was based on misdirection.

:_Maybe yer just overrreacting_,: I told myself.

Not _everything _had to come down to Aizen and his grand master plot for total domination. Maybe it was just a _coincidence _that this heretofore unknown enemy would suddenly start stealing kids secretly in the Rukon District. If I hadn't accidentally stumbled across the rumors and gotten curious enough to investigate, the movements of this Shadow enemy would never have been uncovered. (I also would not currently be bound into mortal bones, traipsing gate by gate across undiscovered realms as the bound vassal/protector of a pushy, bossy human woman who happened to be the reincarnation of my boss's wife!)

I still didn't feel like I knew enough about my mysterious new enemy in general. I basically knew what they were and basically where they came from, but I didn't know anything about their capabilities (besides the fact that they could open a Portal across The Line without detection and turn unsuspecting Soul Reaper Lieutenants mortal). Nor did I know what was motivating them. Why steal kids? Why steal kids from the Rukon District?

:_Why steal kids from the Rukon District with spiritual powers_?: I wondered.

Then my mind made one of those intuitive leaps.

If Miss Isana was to be believed and her son really was a Quincy, then maybe all of the other kids had been Quincy as well. The Quincy Clan had been wiped out well over a century ago, with only a few stragglers hanging on. For some reason thier souls and thier powers never reappeared on the Wheel of Rebirth, because if they had, more Quincy's with spirit powers would have been born in the succeeding generations, but Ishida was always going on and on (and **_on_**) about how he was the last. What if there was a _reason _why there were no more Quincy's? What if there existed someone or something that was preventing the proper transmigration of their souls on the Wheel of Rebirth?

:_Nevermind that speculation_,: I thought to myself. :_More importantly, if those kids in the Rukon District that had gotten taken by the Shadows were like Miss Isana's son, then that means they're Quincy's and it isn't just random... they were especially selected. Then that would mean that the Shadows are targeting the Quincy for some reason_.:

But why? What possible interest could the Shadows have in the Quincy? It must be something really important for that unknown enemy to risk betraying its presence by sneaking into the Soul Society, if not the Seireitei itself, and causing a stir by kidnapping children.

:_It only caused a stir in the Rukon District though_,: I thought. :_Nobody else seems to care about those missing Rukon kids, certainly none of the other Reapers do_.:

Still, the Shadows seemed to be making an effort to keep their presence low-key. Why risk exposing themselves to the Soul Reapers if the thing they were taking the risk for wasn't counted as a significant gain? They wanted them for a reason, and that reason had to be important or they wouldn't risk it. There had to be something about the Quincy that they either needed... or the Quincy were counted as a significant threat.

:_I dunno which one it is, an' my feet are already pretty firmly on this path or else I'd head to Uruahara's shop and tell him ta give that Ishida brat a heads up_.:

I guess I'd have to count on my letter putting the Ichigang on high alert. I would hand one thing to 'em, those mortal brats looked out fer each other right and proper. I was probably just worrying over nuthin'. If a Shadow tried attacking him, Ishida was good enough with a bow to take it out-

:_Hey, waitaminit_...: A thought occured to me.

If the Shadows weren't interested in the Quincy ability to channel reishin spirit particles through their medalions (which they used to fuel thier weapons) then maybe it was the weapons themselves that the Shadows were after.

"After all, apparently they have nothing to fear from us Soul Reapers, we can't reap the souls of beings that have never been human." I muttered to myself, following my train of thought as easily as I was sniffing out that Shadow's trail. Isana looked at me oddly for a moment but decided to leave me in peace to sort it out for myself.

"And if they don't fear our element-based Zanpaktou, an' they know they're immune to 'em, there's gotta be somethin' _else _they're afraid of."

I turned to Miss Isana and asked

"Didn't that mountain-spirit say somethin' about a weapon that could kill 'em?"

"Yes," Isana said in reply. "He said that your Zanpaktou, which relied on the four elements, would not destroy a creature that was made of pure spirit. He said something about needing a weapon that relied on the fifth element... whatever that means."

The fifth element...

"Spirit!" I exclaimed, the light coming on.

It was so obvious that I don't know why I hadn't made the connection before. The fifth element was the spirit.

And doesn't Quincy mean five in some old dead language?

I kinda thought that it did. So Quincy weapons were weapons made of spirit and so, they were the only things that could kill a creature made purely of spirit. The Quincy could kill the Shadows.

"Ihy's that important?" Isana asked, so I quickly explained my theory to her.

"So that Shadow took my boy because he's got a weapon in him that is the only thing that can kill one of the Shadows?" she summarized the only important part to her.

"Yeah, basically," I said. "That's my thought anyway."

There was the small slim chance that, if Aizen were somehow involved in all this like a puppetmaster working backstage, then he might have found another way to use the Quincy powers. I couldn't even begin to speculate about what use he might put them to. Damn, I shouldn't have left the Mortal World, now I had no way of getting another notice to my comrades to update them. I couldn't leave the trail now that I was on it, or else the scent would fade and I'd never find my quarry. I felt frustrated at not being able to get in contact with anyone and give them a warning. What if the whole Seireitei got caught blind-sided by a sudden mass-attack by the Shadows and I could have warned them but hadn't? It wasn't a _likely _event but it could happen.

Still, I felt like I didn't know enough about them. What I had was information about their origins and a single encounter with one lone Shadow (that had turned me mortal) and a whole bunch of _speculation _about why they were kidnapping kids from the Rukon District. I knew that if I went back to the Seireitei with what I had now and tried to call a meeting of the Captains to warn them about a possible threat to the Seireitei I'd probably be dismissed or laughed right out of chambers (right before they arrested me for supposedly breaking Seireitei rules). None of them were likely to care all that much about a few missing kids, and a couple of rumors with no solid evidence wasn't going to get my warnings noticed and taken seriously. I needed something I could _show _them. Something that was going to make them take me seriously.

:_I'd say drag back to body of a dead Shadow, but I don' think they have actual bodies_,: I thought.

The one I had encountered hadn't seemed to.

I wondered again just exactly what it was that I thought I was doing there. Sure I had to track it down while the trail was hot or I'd never find it at all...

::_As usual Renji_,:: Zabimaru noted with wry humor. ::_You are not long in the thinking ahead department. What were you planning on doing with it once you found it? You and I alone cannot kill it.::_

Well if we couldn't kill it ourselves we'd just have ta get someone who could. I'd bet one of those Rukon Quincy's would do the deed happily.

::**And if they are too young to reliably manifest their powers? Neither of us should ever be so desperate that we would send in a child to do our own dirty work**.::

Good point.

:_Well shit_,: I thought in frustration, stymied again.

I knew some stuff but I didn't know the _important _stuff. I could track it down but I couldn't _kill _it.

:_Hey Zabimaru, whatcha think_?: I requested his opinion.

::**What about taking it captive**?:: Zabimaru suggested.

I was more of a "take no prisoners" kinda guy.

::**You would have the evidence you would need to get the Captains to take you seriously**,:: he pointed out.

It seemed like a lot of work to lug around some prisoner.

::**Do you have any better ideas**?:: he asked.

I thought about it for a bit and found that there were yet more problems with even that sort of solution. The fact that they were old gods, and therefore pretty much automatically guaranteed to be way more powerful than I was drifted first to mind, followed by, how exactly was someone supposed to bind something that had no connections to anything but itself and its old Realm?

For one long moment I held the terrible vision of myself having to hop from gate to gate and realm to realm, laying binding spells all over the place to fight the Shadows.

:_No frickin' way am I doin' that_!: I thought in alarm.

I was a Soul Reaper dammit, not some kind of... I didn't know what to call it. Besides that, I didn't know how many of those buggers there were, there could only be a few but there could be a few hundred. I didn't know if they were working together, if they were coordinated or not. The fact that they seemed to be targeting a group kinda made me suspect that they were at least hunting together but I knew nothing about them. _More _crap I didn't know. What the hell was I doing? I was like some idiot flailing blindly in the dark, hoping to hit something by accident. I shared my thoughts with Miss Isana, reasoning that she seemed like a pretty smart woman, maybe she'd see something I didn't.

"We definately can't fight them that way," she agreed with me. "We don't know how big the Dangai is and how many Realms are in it. For all we know it goes on forever. There's no way we'd be able to fight anything efficiently if we have to run around trying to track it down first. That's one thing that's always confused me a little about your story Renji."

"what's that?" I asked curiously.

"If this guy's talent lies in creating Illusions that no-one can break through, _and _he covertly amassed an army of Hollows in Hueco Mundo that was strong enough to give all you Soul Reapers a run for your money, why didn't he just sneak off in the middle of the night with that girl of yours who had that... thingy-ummy-"

"Hougyoku," I supplied.

"Yeah that. Why did he go to all the trouble of getting her tried and sentenced to execution, then slaughtering your Senate, and turning you all against each other if he was only going to pull that hougie-thing out of her in the middle of day light where everyone can see him, blab his master plan to you all and then tell everyone "hey! lookit me! I'm a traitor! And here's where to find me!" It makes no sense. You'd think that if he'd spent all this time putting his peices into place quietly, he would have been a little more... _subtle_, verdad?"

**_Whack_**!

Have ya ever been hit by a sudden revelation dropping down on you like a ton of bricks from out of the clear blue sky? Let me tell ya, it ain't pretty.

Captain Souske Aizen was no fool. In fact, he was the very opposite of a fool.

Now I'm almost famous in the Soul Reapers for the level of my density and inability to understand stuff that had nothing to do with killing Hollows dead and rendering anything else related to them into a similar state. Franky, despite my rank, ya just point me in the right direction and let me go at 'em. I was a fighter and damned good at it... which it why my sudden lapse into the world of intelligence came as such a sudden and unwelcome surprise. I was used to being stupid and having people take advantage of my density, It was a distinctly uncomfortable feeling to suddenly realize that all the rest of the men whom I regarded as my superiors in intelligence and I basically counted on all of 'em ta run the show for me (just let me do what I did best) had been taken in as easily as I had.

Why would a man who was not a fool suddenly reveal his traitorous intentions in front of the whole seireitei, and make a big production of casting off his shackles and leaving for his lair of evil when he could have more easily continued on in his position, spinning out his plans like an evil spider in a web, biding his time and waiting? Our fearless leader was over two thousand years old, and though he might have aged very very well, he had still aged. There was no-one else in his line to inherit so the position of Head-Captain was bound to be up for grabs in a few centuries. Wouldn't it have made more sense for an evil twisty schemer like Aizen to just wait it out? True, Aizen had been handed a unique opportunity to get hold of the hougyoku and thus to a great deal of power, but there were surely other ways of gaining power for a man like him. Aizen had always struck me as being vaguely distainful of people who just swung around thier power like barbarians with clubs rather than getting the most out of every speck of it. That was the kinda guy he was. Getting past the fact that he'd betrayed the Seireitei at all, the thing that bugged me now was the way he had chosen to reveal it. Lying in wait for centuries, gathering allies, putting his people into place... that was more the kind of shadow game that an evil schemer like him went for. Taking it in that context, Aizen's sudden grab for power, his announcement of his intentions, the flashy way he had openly exited the Seireitei after spouting off his evil scheme right in front of all of the captains? It just didn't make sense.

:_And the way he gathered a collection of easy targets all in one location for us to concentrate our fire on easily_...: I thought, with a sinking feeling of dread.

I just stopped, unable to take another step as the full implications hit me. Hard. I sank to my knees.

It was a diversion.

Hueco Mundo. The Espada. Orihime? It had all been a diversion. The plot with Rukia and the Hougyoku was all to kick-start it off. He'd announced his betrayal in the most flashy and obvious way possible to draw our attention to the Espada he'd set up in Hueco Mundo. But they had been nothing more than very obvious bait. He'd wanted to draw us out, get us to commit our forces.

The memory of the dog-fight I had seen that day in the back alley of Hangdog suddenly flashed to the fore of my mind. Two dogs fighting over a prize, injuring and weakening each other enough to where a third dog, rested and uninjured could sweep in and defeat them both, stealing the coveted meat. If there were suddenly gonna a new enemy on the scene that no-one had ever heard of and knew nothing about that was well rested and fresh fer th' fight...

I mentally tallied how many of our people were in Hueco Mundo running cleanup duty on the Arrancars and the Espada right then and the numbers made my stomach turn.

All of Second Division including Captain Soi Fon, three-quarters of Eleventh Division including first seat Madarame, a quarter of Thirteenth Division, a quarter of First Division (all of their Seated officers from Third Seat down to Twentieth were coordinating the different fighting units), fully half of Ninth and Seventh Divisions had been called to the field along with most of their upper-level officers, a quarter of Twelfth was out there gathering samples, A quarter of the healers of Fourth were there to provide back up and healing, nearly all of Tenth was over there...

The numbers weren't as bad as they could be, but they were still bad. If I was right and it was a trap, then when the trap was sprung it would _seriously _weaken the Seireitei. Possibly even cripple it. The only squads that had been asked to stay home and babysit the fort were Third (with Kira nominally in charge) Fifth (which had yet to be sorted out, because Momo was too frail right then to step up to bat) Sixth and Eighth.

:_Four squads_,: I thought, despair and panic sweeping over me.

Four squads and only mine was up to full strength and at that just barely; I had still been training noobs to take up the positions that had been vacated in the action.

I tried to grab a hold of myself before I dropped everything and rabbited back home to warn them. If I came busting through that gate, suddenly mortal, and started raving like a lunatic they'd _never _believe me. I had no proof. This was all only conjecture. I couldn't produce solid evidence of a single Shadow, much less a whole conspiracy of them. Most of the people there had never even heard of the Believed, much less the Divine Realms. I could count on Urahara looking into it based on my letter but who knew what he would find and where he would go with it.

:_it's not just a matter of **want **to now_,: I realized. :_I **need **proof. I have to have it. I have to get it to make them listen to me and withdraw our forces before it's too late, if it isn't too late already. I gotta figure out a way to capture a Shadow so I have something to prove to them that I'm not just making it up_.:

I didn't have many options open to me right then, i was essentially flying blind, but it stood to reason that if the Shadows were faded members of the Believed, that was, old elemental spirits, then another elemental spirit would know a way to beat them. I had a sudden thought, the little Missy had a way for us to get in to see one too... she'd sealed a deal with that mountain spirit to bind me into service with her in exchange he'd given her a scroll to deliver to the Emperor of the Earth Court. That seemed like a good, perhaps the only, lead on a way to trap an elemental spirit that we had right then.

"-Enji? Renji!" I suddenly became aware of Miss Isana shaking my shoulder and calling my name. I blinked and looked up at her.

"What?" I asked.

"You suddenly spaced out there and then you just dropped," she said in exasperation. "I thought you might have gotten hurt or something. Are you alright."

"Not really," I said honestly. "But it has nothing to do with you. Hey... that Mountain Spirit gave you a scroll to deliver to the Court of Genbu. What's that all about?"

"The Court of Genbu is the Great Court of the Earth Spirits," Isana said, looking perplexed by my sudden non-sequiter. "He says that it is a petition to the Emperor he's allied to. I assume he's bored of the mortal realm and wants to join his Court, although he didn't actually _say _so."

"Ya think the Emperor might know more about the Shadows?" I asked urgently.

"Probably," she said. "After all, he is a Great Spirit, the master over one of the four cardinal elements."

"Good," I said pivoting on one heel to hit the nearest gate. "Let's go."

"Hey!" she snapped, looking at me in anger. "You promised that you were going to help me find my son, and you keep delaying it. Why do you want to take a sudden detour to the Earth Court now?"

"I need a spell that can bind a Shadow," I told her. "It's a matter of life and death. I can come back later and pick up the trail but I need a way to beat my enemy once I've found 'im. If I can track him and fight him but _not _defeat him, then how am I s'posed to rescue yer kid?"

She shot me a glare that could have felled pigeons in mid-air.

"Lookit it this way," I said. "You were gonna have to go that way sooner or later and we need that information."

"How do I know you're not just trying to get out of it?" she demanded angrily.

"We both have the same goal still," I pointed out. "I need ta git that Shadow as soon as possible just as much as you do, but it doesn't do either of us any good ta hunt 'im down and then not be able ta defeat it. If we find yer kid and can't git 'im back how've we helped 'im?"

"I hate this," she said in a shaking voice. " I want my son back. I want to hold him in my arms."

Oh crap, she was crying. I was helpless against a woman's tears... _no way_ was I hugging her though. No matter what her reincarnation was, that was my boss' woman, an' I wasn't suicidal. Still, I absolutely couldn't stand to see a woman in tears before me and not do anything about it.

"We'll git 'im back. I promise," I said instead, letting her hear the sincerity in my voice. "I swear on Zabimaru's strength that I am gonna do everything I can to reunite you with yer boy. Ya hear me?"

It took longer than I would have liked and I felt horrible just watching her tiny body wrack with sobs. She looked so much like my Rukia that it just made it all worse but at last the sobs abated into sniffles and she rubbed her eyes dry.

"I want my boy," she said, trying to firm her voice.

The look she gave me was feirce and demanding.I nodded firmly, once. A promise between us.

"Let's go," I said. "The sooner we make a deal with that Earth Court Emperor, the sonner we can get back ta chasin' Shadows."

I'm just going to ignore for now the fact that what you just said is usually considered to be an exercise in futility."

* * *

**Sorry its late, my schedule had still be crazy-hectic and I hadn't uploaded my latest batch of chapters to my account so I couldn't access them anywhere but at my home computer (and by the time I got home I was always too tired to get online) but I finally had a day off today so here it is! I hope you all enjoyed the nice little twist. When i got to thinking about it, Aizen's manuver that is, it didn't make any sense to me that he'd spend so much time being covert and manipulative then suddenly make this big huge exit where everyone can see him and knows he's a traitor, then all but hang a giant neon sign at his new lair practically screaming "here I am, come and fight me one by one". Aizen's got to be a lot sneakier than that. So my thought was that he used the Espada and Las Noches as both booby traps and disposable decoys while he powered up his real army for a fight. **


	32. Genbu

The scroll had only to be introduced to the nearest gate with three empty node slots in it, it turned out. The Mountain Spirit had pre-entered the right code onto the scroll-case. It was a short hop across a wide flat star-path and through the largest terminus gate I had seen since I had left the Seireitei.

"Ummmm..." she said, crowding closer to me.

Upon entry through the gate we had been surrounded by massive, big-limbed armed lizard men in armor, brandishing naginatta at us. They didn't say anything, but they didn't really have to either... thier looks said louder than words "Who th' hell're you an' why are you here?" It was confirmed a moment later when a tiny, scrawney gekko-man in elaborate court robes carrying a massive book (reminding me a little of Ise Nanao) came running up from down the hall shouting

"Humans! This is highly irregular! All visits to the Court are to be announced and placed in the agenda! Dis-order! Arrest them!"

I put my hand on my sword, assessing my opponents. The wimpy Gekko was goin' down first, the lizard guards were gonna be fun. I smiled a little, preparing to draw my sword. Isana laid a hand on my arm and drew herself up. Suddenly, where there had been an ordinary woman worried about her son and scared at finding herself beset, there was a Lady. She seemed to draw poise and elegance around her like a cloak, her features refined, her posture regal, her bearing and manner every inch that of a young queen with some toady trying to snivel up to her. Even though she was dressed in normal human clothes the seemed to have this aura of wearing the finest silk robes. She looked down her nose at the Gekko and flicked a cool glance at the guards who (probably prompted by habit) backed up respectfully.

:_Whoah_!: I thought, taken aback.

It was like she was channeling my boss! She was even doing that aristocratic eyebrow-raising thing.

"My name is Isana Rourke from the Mortal realm," she announced softly but with an absolute calm and authority. "I come bearing a message for His Majesty, Emperor Genbu of the Earth Court from his younger cousin Dara of the Tired Mountain. I apologize for the lapse in routine, but I have given my word that I would deliver this to him with my own hand."

The gekko-man, probably some court official, blinked rapidly at her as if he were surprised and a little offended that she spoke back to him.

"See here, Human!" the little critter snapped. "You can't just burst in through the door and demand and audience with his majesty! You have to follow procedure; your names must be placed on the agenda and his majesty will see you at his earliest convenience. That's protocol!"

"An' how long is that?" I demanded, wanting to get this over with, get my binding spell (or at least find out where I could find one) and get back to hunting down that Shadow.

"At his Majesty's earliest convenience," the Gekko said cooly.

Something about his look told me that the little snack was going to make sure that his "earliest convenience" was as far away from now as possible.

"I am afraid," Isana said with polite firmness. "That we are on something of a _truncated _schedule. I would appreciate it if you would see to sliding in an extra item on today's agenda. Now."

:_Yep, she was definitely a Kuchiki in her past life_!: I thought in amusement as I watched the little lizard gape at her in shock for her audacity.

"You can't just-" he spluttered. "Highly irregular!"

"Kin I kill 'im yet?" I drawled, loud enough for him to hear me.

I was grinning. This was kinda fun.

The guards tried to close in around me and I again went to place a hand on my Zanpaktou but they were stopped again by little miss former Kuchiki's regal and cool look. This was better in many ways than seeing the boss do it. Sure enough, she did the same thing Byakuya Kuchiki did when he was done wasting his time with fools, which was to sweep coolly by the opposition without a backward flicker, as if there was no way in the world that they were going to pose any sort of hindrance to her.

I fell into place slightly behind her, glaring menace at anyone who came too close. We both walked briskly up the long narrow hallway to the two immense double doors at the end, the gekko man shouting shocked imprecations at our backs while his lizard guardsmen looked at us helplessly for some reason. Something about Mortal's being free of the usual protocols that applied to the spirit realm surfaced in my mind. Maybe mortals could go where angels feared to tread.

The decoration of the palace on all sides of us was something to behold. Where Hueco Mundo had been all stark white and plain with no adornment, the Palace of Genbu was intricately decorated. The pillars lining either side of the hall were patterned in interlocking geometrics, the rounded arches were terra-cotta and cream striped stones with octagonal louvers filling in the inside of the arches with delicate lace-like stone work. Radiating box-roses of octahgons and diamond shapes in warm, earthy-colored stone tiles of terracotta and cream with black accents lined the floors, outlined by rectangular striped tiles. Not a single line went unadorned and the whole pattern taken as an array was dizzying in it complexity. It was impressive and I'd never seen anything like it, except for the few years I'd been assigned to the middle east. The intricate mosaic patterns over there were very similar to the ones before me now.

The massive double doors with scenes of mountaintops and forests filled with beasts carved and painted on it in between strips of octagonal patterns done in golds and precious gems opened before us to reveal a wide, open cavern of a room with a massive throne of gold raised up on a huge dais that was one, solid carved green piece of jade with smaller solid gemstones acting as steps leading up to the throne. An entire Court composed of... creatures, and beings that I couldn't even begin to put a name to, kneeled, rested, sat, haunched (whatevered) on cushions on the intricately patterned tiled floor of the court, all facing the dais. Many of them were some of the strangest and most impossible combination of foreign parts put together that any mad man had ever dreamed of.

I'll admit that when I thought of an Emperor of a Court, I had envisioned something a little different than what awaited me. I had thought automatically, that Genbu would be man-shaped. He was not. He was a cross between a turtle and a snake, well several snakes. He had a tortoise shell that was the size of a small hill seated on a throne of solid green jade inlaid with gold and other precious stones that was large enough to support him. The turtle shell was silver and gleamed in the soft light light that permeated the air of the court. The shell pattern on his back with opalescent white, like a silver jewel-box inlaid with turtle-shell patterns in abalone-shell. Instead of a turtle-head stretching out from the shell there were instead the triangular head and long undulating necks of not one, but _several _snakes. However these were snakes of a type that I had never seen before in nature. No ordinary snake would have scales that gleamed with a metalic sheen on them, like the irridecence from the wing-casings of beetles. The colors along the necks and spines of the snakes bled from one gleaming irridecent tone to another, all of them were brighter than the finest jewels. One snake head had emerald green on its triangular head that bled to azure that graduated to deep amythyst at its tail. Another snake head had crimson fading to violet fading to pewter-grey. Another had amber-gold fading through brandy and back up through to sunset-orange. it should have looked strange to see snake-tails coming out of the tail of a turtle shell but taken as a whole, Genbu looked nothing short of majestic. Even though he was so otherworldly to me, he exuded this aura or power and authority that, even though I couldn't read him, could feel radiating off from him like heat fromt he sun. I was startled by his form, but Miss former Kuchiki wasn't waiting up for me, she strode right down that center aisle like a reigning queen and dropped neatly to her knees and bowed her head, fingers placed with perfect elegance before her. As her nominal escort, I knelt, but kept my hand near my hilt. I'd seen pictures like this in story books. Never thought I'd ever _live _one.

"Your Imperial Majesty," she said in a soft but strangely carrying voice.

It didn't _need _to be loud anyway, everyone was so frozen in shock that you could have heard a pin drop in that room.

"Please forgive my impertinence in arriving so suddenly and without announcement," she continued. "But my guardian and I must travel on a matter of utmost urgency but have previously given our word that we would deliver this scroll into your hands."

She delicately placed the scroll on the ground before her with a deep cow-tow and then raised her head, awaiting acknowledgement.

I've been in a lot of tense situations beforehand, but never one like _that_. Never one where the silence is so thick and looming that it is it's own presence in the room. A good half of the room was composed of creatures and spirits that looked like they could easily swallow us whole without needing to chew. Hoo boy. Had I ever asked fer it.

I never wanted so badly to sigh in relief as I had when Genbu (or maybe one of his multitudinous heads) started to chuckle. The tension in the room faded and the other Earth Spirits turned to their neighbors to mutter quietly amongst themselves, probably about the nature of humans. The scroll, case and all, levitated up from the ground and floated smoothly toward the throne where it unwrapped itself and unrolled itself. Huh, magic.

When Genbu spoke it was as if the earth had suddenly been given a voice, the ground beneath me seemed to resonate with his deep rumbling basso, like a roll of thunder trembling all around me.

"**You Humans Are Ever in a Hurry**," Genbu said.

He sounded amused but my mind was caught on the trick of how he seemed to make every word he spoke, no matter how inconsequntial, weighted with significance.

"**My Dear Cousin Has Seen Fit to Provide Entertainment To Our Court and It's Subjects**," he continued. "**Namely, That The Entertainment Shall Be You**."

Wha-?

"**He Writes To Say That He Sends Us a Warrior Of Above Common Ability That I may Test Against Our Strongest Subject in Open Combat**," Genbu said, sounding most pleased with it.

Well at least _one _of us was. I had never agreed to that!

"Hey!" I snapped, rising to my feet. "I didn't agree ta fight nobody! Yer cousin c'n just take his message an'-"

I was suddenly brought to my knees and silenced by that spell that I'd had laid on me rearing up and momentarily taking away my will. It had probably just saved my life. The aura of the Court went from jovially amused to faintly irritated to match its ruler.

"**Do You Call Our Cousin A Liar, Mortal**?" Genbu inquired.

Well _yeah_! He was tryin' ta pull a fast one.

"My warrior would never dream of such impertinence, your majesty," Isana said smoothly as I tried to work around the guard she'd put on my tongue.

I glared at her and she looked helplessly back at me, clearly caught flatfooted and trying her damndest to salvage the mess we'd strode in and caused, then had handed to us.

"We are however, as I said, in something of a hurry. Perhaps his Majesty will allow a timed event?"

"Are you crazy?" I hissed at her, looking around me.

Some of the Spirits here looked like they'd eat me whole. I was pretty hot stuff when it came to a battlefeild but it looked like a lot of them were way out of my league.

"It's the best I could do," she hissed back. "All you have to do is last a few minutes against them, just run around and dodge or something."

Genbu seemed to notice something that had perked his interest. He was staring at my Zanpaktou. Instictively, I turned my body to protect him.

"**Zabimaru? Is That You**?" Genbu inquired, sounding faintly surprised.

They knew each other?

"**Ah, the Prodigal Son Returns**," Genbu said, sounding very pleased. "**Come Out So That We May Look At You**."

My zanpaktou hummed for a moment and then Zabimaru appeared beside me in his full glory, a great white baboon with black tiger-stripes down his side and a snake tail swiveling up over his shoulder. He was, uncustomarily, haunched over and kneeling. Snaketail glared at me from behind his back. What did _I _do? It's not like I _knew _they were friends or anything.

"Your Majesty," Zabimaru said gravely, kneeling even lower.

"_Zabimaru, We Have Not Seen You in Centuries_," Genbu said.

I couldn't even begin to read snake-turtle body language, but Genbu sounded happy so I guess it was okay.

"**This Court Has Missed It's Favorite Nue. How Came You to Be Bound Into That Sword**?"

"I chose this bond of my own free will, Majesty," he replied with solemnity.

"**Did You**?" Genbu said with Mildly interested surprise.

My eyes flicked back and forth between the two of them, trying to guess at all the secret history that seemed to be conveyed without words between them.

"**And So What Of Your Former Quest**?" he inquired. "**Surely That Human King Could Not have Posed So Great a Threat to Earth Court's Finest Warrior-Chimera**."

"I was mistaken in my assumption of the Human's, majesty," Zabimaru said. "Many of them hold great courage and a vast potential. In atonement for my misdeeds towards them I have decided to take up service with them, helping to guide the Souls I would once have let remain lost."

This was a surprise! I had never once given thought to the idea that my zanpaktou would have his own story. I hadn't even thought it was possible. Zanpaktou were zanpaktou. I felt the sudden need to sit down and recover from the day.

"Hm," Genbu said shortly, he sounded either unconvinced, or displeased. Maybe both.

"**To Each His Own We Suppose**," Genbu said, with a sinuous move from his own snake that mirrored a shrug. "**Still...**"

"**You Chose to Serve The Reapers of the Soul Cort, Zabimaru? That Is An Unusual Direction From A Warrior Who Pides Himself On His Strength And Independence. Your Human Weilder Does Not Look So Impressive... I Wonder That Your Standards Are Not Slipping**."

I bristled at that while the rest of the court laughed.

"He is young yet Majesty," Zabimaru said. "But there is a vast potential in him. Our ways suit one another well."

"**I Am Unsatisfied With Your Decision**," Genbu said. "**I Would See Proof Of Your Weilders Worthiness**."

I had a sinking feeling. Surely not...

"**In Accordance With Our Dear Cousin's Letter**," Genbu said decisively. "**We Shall See Our Great Nue, Baboon King Zabimaru, Fight Against His Human Weilder... Your Name Boy**."

"Sixth Squad Lieutnant Renji Abarai!" I snapped, more than a little pissed off about all of this.

Sure I had asked for it, but I was quickly discovering that I didn't like surprises. Still, if this was what it took to get that damned seal-spell...

"Ready ta go," I demanded turneing to him.

I'd beat him once to acheive bankai, I could do it again. Zabimaru looked wryly amused and rolled his eyes at me.

"Always ready to fight, aren't you?" he said to me.

"Damn straight! Prepare fer yer ass beatin'!" I said.

"You do realize that while I am in my released form, you cannot summon my shikai," he pointed out as all the creatures in Genbu's court cleared a ring for us.

"Don't need it," I assured him. "I'll whup yer ass barehanded."

The Court laughed again. And that ticked me off too. I had to do this and do it quickly, I had a quest to get back onto and I didn't really have time to waste here playing ring around the rosies with my zanpaktou. We faced each other.

"**Begin**," Genbu commanded.

* * *

**A short chapter, more of a segue really, but writing Genbu was fun. I sort of had in mind a romantic backstory about what happened between Zabimaru and Sode No Shiraiyuki back when they were both spirits of their respective Elemental Courts, but I couldn't fit it in. Maybe I'll write it as a side story. What do you all think?**


	33. Let's Get it Started

:based on my usual style of fighting, Zabimaru will expect me ta come at him swinging, and just beat him down using my fists,: I thought as we stared at each other across the stone floor. If I wanted to beat him in any decent amount of time, I was going to have to take him by surprise.

:_Fine then, I guess I'll do **that**_.:

In the space of time that I'd been Captain Kuchiki's Lieutenant I'd done more than just learn his rhythms and pauses to the style of fighting he's mastered, I'd also been observing the way he used and manipulated kido. Now, I'd never tried any of it myself, I knew my limits when it came to using my spiritual power but the recent mastery over my chakra might have given me just enough of an edge ta pull it off. There was a spell I'd seen him use once, it was varient on one of the shield spells. Instead of creating a barrier that would deflect any attack from the outside it sort of surrounded the target and reflected spiritual attacks from the inside back at the caster. Well, basically anyway, the barrier spell would absorb reiatsu attacks, ans well as syphon off the reiatsu of the people inside its perimeter for a period of time up until it reached a certain threshold... I'd have to keep Zabimaru within the "ring" defined by the edges of my barrier spell until that point because if he broke the circle the spell would backlash on only me (and most likely take me out). Once the threshold was reached, I, the caster, would have a limited window of time to get out of the way before all of that stored reiatsu struck whatever was still left inside the confines of its perimeter all at once. When Kuchiki had done it, the explosion that had followed had rocked nearby buildings on their foundations.

The first step in the spell was a four part process, I had to chant a hado at four different points to define the cornerstones of the perimeter. And just so that Zabimaru wouldn't know what was going on until too late, I should disguise my setting up that spell under other actions.

"Hey monkey, yer circus just called and they want their peanut vendor back!" I called over to him taunting my buddy while I surreptitiously muttered the chant for the spell.

"Bones of the Earth and blood of the mountains," I murmured.

I felt my factitious reiatsu gather in and push against the barriers of the binding seals I'd replaced on my body to get all that roiling power boiling beneath the surface to settle down so I could concentrate on my mission again. It was as eagre to be free and out running amuck as it ever was, and I missed Zabimaru's capable handling of my binding marks already; it was much more difficult for me having to mainain my seals on my own. I was tempted to slide open one of the sluice gates on one of the Chakra's just to see what would happen, but now was not the time for that and I instinctively knew that I wasn't quite ready for it yet. I'd just work with what I was accustomed to for now, there was plenty of time to experiment later.

I fixed the image of the bakudo spell in my mind carefully, mentally laying out all of the turns and crossings and twists that the channels of the spell would follow, not quite daring to make the usual gestures that would let me track my progress for fear of giving the game away. Once I had it settel firmly in my mind I drew off a sizable piece of my own personal reiatsu power.

"You who dwell in the deep, deep down." I murmured, centering the glowing thread of reiatsu and pulling it over to connect that power to the empty channels of the spell.

Fed by my personal power, that spiraling knotwork pattern of the higher-level Bakudo lit up as power bled into it, making the channels of the spell glow softly in my minds eye like strands of purest moonlight. As usuall, my stubborn reiatsu pushed and pulled at the limits of the spell and my own desire to cage it in, but I checked it, forcing it to go where I willed it... and for a minor miracle it actually did! Usually I had to fight with it, herding it this way and that, pulling it back as it pushed, but it steadied out with only a minimum of fight this time. It still popped little bit here and there, but it didn't sting nearly as much as it usually did and there was no attempt to break away and backlash on me! It was with a heart much encouraged and brimming with confidence that I finished off the spell.

"Seal the winds and waters, call forth the great wall. Bakudou 87, hanpatsu kabe," (rebounding wall). I placed my hand, palm down on the floor as I chanted the release of the spell.

The spell glowed softly on the floor under my hand for a short moment then faded signaling that that part was done. One down, three more to go.

In a ruse, I charged at Zabimaru, swinging my fist to land a good punch in but he moved out of the way. One of his enormous forearms moved to counter but I'd been expecting that and I ducked. I'd fought him once so I already knew many of his moves. So I was expecting it when Snakey struck out at me as the momentum of his strike carried him past me. I turned my automatic block into a dodge that brought me at right about the area I was looking for to make my second mark. I gathered in my reiatsu and softly chanted

"Bones of the earth..."

My reiatsu still fought as it always did, but this time it didn't fight me as hard and I was able to chant and release the rest of that part of the spell with fewere difficulties than i had ever had for a bakudo. But then Zabimaru decided it was time to go on the attack, that was fine, I needed to hide my movements that'd let me manuever into a better position to set the rest of the spell in place. He put his right hand before his face two fingers held straight the rest curled into a fist, prepratory to firing off some kind of spell. He was surrounded in an emerald green glow and the black stripes that matched my own tattoos glowed in answer. He let out growl and then punched his other fist into the ground. From that point to the point where I was standing a line of disrupted earth shot up in great jagged spikes towards the sky like a cat who had chosen to unsheath its claws.

"Gaah!" I yelped in surprise nearly loosing my grip on the developing spell as I dodged quickly to the left.

"You should be more wary of whom you choose to taunt boy," Zabimaru informed me. "I have been around for centuries longer than you have even in your previous incarnations Young Soul."

I filed that one away to ask about later and forced myself to concentrate on setting up the third pillar of the spell. The other two hummed quietly in the background of my mind, pulling on my reiatsu far more gently than I was accustomed to, so it was with relative ease that I managed to murmur the chant for the third time and place the spell.

"Yeah yeah, whatever!" I yelled back to him. "Quit yer yappin' an' fight. I don't wanna have ta stick around here for my next few incarnations waiting fer you ta getcher baboon tail in gear!"

I charged back at him, closing in to exchange a few blows. He'd get suspicious if i didn't try an' fight the way I usually did, and I didn't have all of the parts of the spell set up yet. Truth to tell I was a little surprised myself that I was able to juggle a spell this complicated and with this many parts to it. Or, I should have been surprised, the old me would never have believed it and would have just known that I was bound to drop one or forget to do something somewhere. I would have kept second-guessing myself, knowing that kido was my weakest subject, and by doing so I would have likely caused myself to fail. But I didn't feel that way anymore; yes I knew that I still had a lot to learn when it came to the fine art of the demon arts, but now i knew I could do it, I knew I had it in me to succeed. Oh, I'd try, and most likely fail the first few times, and probably for a lot more times after that... most likely I'd try and fail many times over and over again, but as with everything else, I would try my hardest every time but this time I'd do it knowing that in the end I _would _succeed.

I skidded to a halt after I dodged to the left, the air was filled with dust from Zabimaru's attack, which suited me just fine, it gave me the right amount of cover for me to complete the spell. I traced the other three points of the spell I'd already laid with my mind and adjusted my position slightly and, after tugging my recalcitrant reiatsu into place, laid the fourth seal to the spell ont he ground. I felt the points connect and the wall spring up, but as the caster I was the only one aware of it. Zabimaru wouldn't see it or sense it unless he broke the lines of the spell. All I had to do now was keep him in the middle of it. Geeze, that Kuchiki... only he would think up a hado spell that _sneaky_.

"Looks like you have the advantage when it comes ta distance Zabs, same as always, but I've fought with you long enough ta know ta take the fight in close. Be forewarned an' don't act surprised, when _here I come_!"

I rushed at him, at the last moment trowing myself into a skidd to try to take out his limbs. Due to his lower center of gravity and the way he had of distrubuting his weight, Zabs always had the solid foundation of a rock, but he could move nimbly and Snakey was a force to be reckoned with due to that whippy tail of his and his bite. Still... there was a chance that I could surprise him under all this cover.

"Too slow boy," Zabimaru informed me, extending his fore arms and pushing his main body up off the ground as I passed right under him. Snakey struck me in passing, nailing a hit on my shoulder when I was to slow to squirm out of the way. I pivoted on one fot and pushed my wiehgt back the way i had come, fighting momentum in order to try for a sweep kick on one of the two arms that were supporting his weight. He shifted so that his weight was supported on one arm and swung at me with the very arm I had been aiming for. I was sent flying a foot or two (still well within the perimeter of my spell thank goodness) and skidded to a halt.I charged right back in, just the same as i always had. Zabimaru would be expecting it after all. I just had to keep his attention focused on me, and endure exchanging blows with him for as long as it took for the threshold guage to fill up. Even as i charged at Zabimaru, he in turn headed straight on the attack with me. We met in the middle exchanging blows and blocks with equal ferocity and unmatched enthusiasm. We'd never say so out loud (but then, we wouldn't _need _to) but both of us were having the time of our lives. He landed a good solid punch in my stomach that knocked the wind out of me and I returned the favor by pounding a double-fisted blow right on his nose that caused him to reel back and shake his head. He hated those. In reply, snakey coiled back and sprang for my bandana, pulling it down over my eyes and blinding me just long enough for babs to pound me flat with one massive tree trunck of a forepaw. I let out an ignominiuos oof! as I kissed the ground, full body length, on my belly.

"Give up boy?" Zabimaru asked, his tone amused.

He knew better than that, but he was clearly enjoying looking good in front of all of his old friends in the Earth Court. Fine, let him bask in their cheers, I could sense that I had some ways to go until the gage was filled anyway.

"You know better than that, Zabimaru," I grunted as I heaved to my feet and threw myself back into the fight.

He sideswiped me with a massive blow that sent me rolling along the ground for a few feet. I got back in and charged a quick skakahou on the fly bursting a flare before him that distracted him long enough for me to dash around to his side and knock him over with an unexpected shoulder-bump. He rolled easily and his back limbs sent me up and over flipping me on my back where he nearly finished the fight with a downward strike (his palm was flat so he wouldn't actually kill me) to my head but, instead of rolling out of the way I caught the massive forelimb he sent flying at me from above, grabbed onto it and twisted over,sending the rest of Zabimaru spinning after it. As he rolled to regain his equilibrium I grabbed an handful of fur and sent my leg up over his spine while he regained his normal standing posture with his massively broad shoulders supporting a long, powerful neck and shorter back limbs. I dug a toe in and climbed up hanging on like a burr.

"Sssstupid!" Snakey informed me, springing for my exposed back in an attack he probably hoped would finish the fight.

I freed up on hand and caught him behind the head, even as babs, underneath me, tried to shake me off. He shook his great thick fur like he was trying to get rid of water, and reared back and plunged forward. He also reached around with his powerful forelimbs, trying to pluck me off but I had chosen that one spot on the back that no-one coud ever quite manage to reach and there I clung like a tick. Just because the image amused me, I pulled on snakey a little bit until I had a long enough coil of snake and straightened up a little bit, still clinging like a bronco rider from out of one of those old Wild West movies I'd seen in the human world. As Zabimaru bucked and plunged and twirled snakey up around my head yelling an enthusiastic

"Yeee-haaaw!"

Zabimaru caught the joke and the fact that I was teasing him. His reply was to roll over on his back. Of course I rolled clear in time but the insult was there.

"Yer no fun!" I called to him. My gage was almost up.

"And you a most bold and impertinent wielder," he replied. He went on the attack again and I deflected, blocked and dodged the blows keeping him well within the bounds of the circle.

"Hold still ya little monkey!" Snakey hissed at me as I blocked another in a string of unsuccessful attacks.

"Hm, what do you think Snaketail, does it not seem unusual to you that Renji's fighting style has become so cautious?"

"Caution this!" I snapped, flashing in to land an upper cut to Babs' jaw followed by a sideways slap to hit snakey. Both attacks met with minimal success but we had been exchanging blows around the ring long enough for that bakudo spell to have absorbed enough of Zabimaru's power. Even as he moved to return the strike, I felt the gauge fill up to its limit. The blow landed and I rolled with the punch then kept rolling right out of the lines of the spell. I didn't have much time or I would be caught in the blast as well.

"Running away from a fight Renji?" he questioned me. "Shall i take this one as my victory then?"

"The fight's already won, zabs, you just don't know it yet," I replied and waited.

A half a beat later the walls of the spell manifested in a glowing screen of light suspended int he air before me. They met at the top like a pyramid and they were faily bursting with power. I saw the flash of realization dawn on hisface and he ducked down, bracing for the blast. As Kido spells went, the one I'd set hadn't been as powerful as it could have been. After all, I'd wanted to win the fight not actually kill him, but even so...

I sheilded my eyes as the walls hummed in vibration and then there was a blinding flash of pure white light as the walls disappeared and the spell exploded outwards form a central point, landing on poor Zabimaru. Sure glad I hadn't been there. I knew that the spell wouldn't kill him but I couldn't help worrying a little; i'd never done a spell as complex as this and even though I thought that I'd gotten everything right I could still have made a miscalculation. I was also relieved to note that several of the denizens of the Earth Court had erected barriers of their own around our fighting ring to contain any collateral damage from the fight.

The dust began to settle and clear after the immense explosion and the barriers that had been placed around the ring to contain the damage flickered out layer by layer.

"**Surprising**," Genbu noted mildly. "**You Have Given Us A Good Fight, Mortal Soul Reaper. You Have Our Permission To Continue To Travel With The Nue, Baboon King Zabimaru**."

"Hey buddy," I said, crouching down and nudging at him. "Ya gonna nap all day or are we gonna git movin' on findin' that Shadow basterd?"

Zabimaru sat up and dusted off his forearms. Blinked slowly at me once and said in a private channel

::_It is well you have mastered it then, you will most likely need it in the future_.::

He meant how to use Kido, but somehow I also sensed another weight to his words and I breifly wondered what kind of trouble he thought we were gonna get into.

I raised my head and looked across the ring at Genbu.

"There's sumthin' I need ta know," I said to him clearly. "I'm lookin' at fightin' some Shadows, you heard o' those right? Former Believed who faded into the Nature Spirit version of the hungry dead?"

Genbu's gaze flickered up to me and he regarded me for a very long moment.

"**We Are Aware Of Thier Presence in The Dark Between, Mortal**," He said. "**What Is Your Quarrel With Them**?"

"Soul Reapers keep the balance between the souls in the Mortal Realm an' th' ones that travel to the Soul Society," I said. "Those Shadows have been taking spirits from both realms, kid spirits, and I think they're up ta sumthin'. One of 'em turned me inta a mortal an' I owe it some payback. I need a spell that will make me able to bind a Shadow since it seems that me an' Zabimaru aren't able ta actually kill one."

Niether snakes nor turtles had eyebrows to raise but I could just feel it happening anyway. There was another pause. Finally Genbu summoned a nearby court servant to speak for him. I'd heard that this was some times the way of Great Personages, but I'd never seen it myself, even the Kuchiki and his most Kuchiki-ness never reached that level of hautuer. At the same time I was kinda glad he'd done us the favor of finding someone to speak for him because listening to Genbu's voice was not comfortable in any sense; the words and their force of the being behind them shivered through my body and soul and it felt like standing in a gigai next to the base speaker at a rock concert. Not comfortable and if you did it to long it left your ears ringing. The little Earth Court servant said on his masters behalf

"You seem to have missed out making a connection on a few critical details. The Shadows have cast off their connections. This means that, though their Realms might once have supplied them with a connection to their previous places of worship, it is the case no longer."

"Yeah so?" I asked, what of it? That didn't tell me how ta kill one.

"Soooo Because of this lack of connection, there is no longer any power coming in to replenish the power that it uses over the course of getting by in the Dangai. It takes power to build portals, and power to cross gates, power to fight with other beings that they come across. The simple function of existing in this place without an anchor in it costs power. Little by little thier power erodes away like the waves of an ocean washing over a pebble or the wind howling over a mountain. If you leave the Shadow be, it will eventually fade to nothing."

"That's not gonna work fer me," I said. "I can't afford ta wait around fer it ta fade. I need a way to haul it up by its throat and drag it back with me to prove it even exists. No offense or anything, i know you're supreme in yer own fort, but you don' get out much do ya? If ya did you'd know that things are movin' pretty quick out there."

Genbu looked bth surprised and amused by my audacity.

"Suppose that such a spell exists and I could give it to you," Genbu's servant said. "It is ludicrous to expect that you would get something for nothing. Even in the mortal world that is simply not the way things work."

"Well, I guess I'd be willin' ta offer ta do ya a favor in return fer yer help. I could go kill somethin' for ya if y'd like."

The servant gave a snort of distain at the suggestion that I might be able to do something for the Emperor that the most powerful fighters of the Earth Court couldn't, but the seven vari-colored heads of Genbu all turned to regard me with interest and a moment later so did the servant. It said

"Mortal's may cross barriers between realms that a being of spirit would find impenetrable. In my master's long history as Emperor of this Court he had suffered grave insult and infringement on his divine power but once. A Being known as the Katschei... he stole something from this realm that is of enormous value. In return for this Court's help with a spell that will bind even ancient gods now faded, we would request that you might go to his Realm and bring back that which he has stolen from His Celestial Radiance."

That sounded good ta me. Go ta a different realm and steal back something. A catch occured to me, what if that something was something cumbersome and unwieldy?

"What kinda sumthin'?" I asked next suspiciously.

"A box," the servant replied.

One of Genbu's snakes flicked its toungue out and an image of a small chest about a foot and a half long, by three quarters a foot wide by a foot or so high, made of intricately decorated metal-bound wood appeared in the air before me. I could carry that easily.

"The box has in it a precious collection of Heartsblood Diamonds, the rarest stones in any realm," Genbu's servant said.

So go there and get a box of rocks? No problem. I frowned for a moment, Katschei... I'd heard that name somewhere before.

"I do this an' you'll give me a spell that'll let me catch a Shadow and hold it pinned?" I asked, just to make certain.

Always best to be sure when you are entering into a contract after all. Especially one that probably involved you risking your neck.

"In exchange for this service my master promises that he will give you a key to unlock the way to defeat the Shadows."

Not quite the same thing, but it sounded close enough to what I was looking for.

"Ya gotcherself a deal." I said. "C'mon Miss Isana, let's go. The sooner we get this over with the sooner we c'n get back to huntin' down your son."

"**One Moment Warrior**," Genbu said. "**We Require Collateral Against Your Safe Return**."

"I ain't got nuthin'," I said. I automatically put a hand to my Zanpaktou signalling that he wasn't getting Zabimaru; we were a team and there was no way i was going anywhere without him.

"I will stay behind as collateral," Isana said, softly. "I know that renji would not abandon me here, so I will stay against his safe return."

Hey, that made my job a lot easier, now I wouldn't have to worry about the little missy picking stuff up off the ground!

Genbu gestured and a portal opened up next to me. He must have some serious power to be able o do somethin' like that without even breaking a sweat. Then again, he was Genbu of the Earth Court, I was betting that there were still people out there somewhere who worshipped him.

"Good Fortune To You, Warrior," he said.

"Don' need it, but thanks anyway," I said, turning towards the portal. "Me an' Zabimaru'll beat this guy to a pulp and get back yer diamonds."

* * *

**That went better than I thought it would. Originally when I wrote this story, I skipped the fight scene between Zabimaru and Renji, deciding that I;d write it later but I kept putting it off. Finally as it came time to post it I just knucked down and started writing and this was the result. I'm pleased I hope you all liked it too. The riding cowboy part was a moments burst of giggling madness... my housemates, if they didn't think so before, now surely think I'm a little crazy. I hope you liked it and please stay tuned for more exciting chapters. Next up, it's all Renji all the time as he sneaks into the Katscheis castle and finds things other than what he expected.**


	34. Sneaking In

The portal was as dark and bumpy as any of the normal gateways I was used to, which only seemed to highlight the differences in traveling in between the Realms located in the Dangai by using the mysterious Portal System and traveling between the world of the living and the world of the dead as i was accustomed to. I jogged down the starlight-path and exited out into a dense forest. I put my tongue to the wind, scenting the thick smell of pine resin, snow, soil, and smoke. I turned in the direction that the smokey scent came from, betting that _that _would be where the Katschei's castle was. From that direction I could also taste the thick, cloying feel of magic.

Let me explain, the scenting ability that Zabimaru grants me is more than just a nose like a bloodhound. I pick up physical scents, but layered in over this were also psychic, spiritual and magical scents as well. For example, I could track an ordinary human being in the purely physical world by the scent of his body just the same as any other dog could, I could also track a soul through the world of the living by the spiritual signature, just as unique to it as the physical scent was. Tracking a soul through the Soul Society was a little more tricky because everything that existed in that place was made of reishin particles; I could weed them out just the same way a dog would sift through the smells in the background, but for some reason my soul-scenter was a little more sensitive to nuances. It was this sensitivity to psychic senses that enabled me to be able to catch people's moods (most times, and be able to tell when most people were lying or telling the truth (usually people smelled like various kinds of pepper when they lied) unless they were a person that was really good at lying or hiding their spiritual scents... like even though Aizen had been lying to everyone for years, I never once picked up the scent of pepper from him. Urahara was just as good at it, I could never tell what that guy was thinking or feeling at any given moment. magic on the other hand had a very different smell. Even Kido just used spiritual power to fuel it, so as much reiatsu as you had was all you had to spend; the magic they used out here in the Divine Realms was different, instead of the magic smelling like an individuals own spirit-scent combined with the "smell" of the spell itself (and each spell had a slightly differnt smell to it, don't ask me why) the magic they used in the Divine Realms all smelled of a particular "type." The magic of the Earth Court had smelled to me like freshly turned soil and the sun-baked rock of the desert, and of a forest after a rain... all the different kinds of scents that a person would atribute to being Earthy i had scented there. Some particular kinds of scents were stronger or differnt with some of the beings than others, but that underlying scent of power and earth was there through all of it. (as for Gebbu, forget about it, it was so overwhelming my nose went dead). I'd picked up other scents that had a feeling of power to them to, though because they were unfamiliar to me, I had no way of knowing what they were.

I followed the scent to the edge of the forest and was there confronted with an enormous Russian-style castle with straight plain lines, a block-like exterior and towers with turrets shaped like pointed, upside-down onions. It was a _big _place. It towered up for several stories, dominating the Realm. The walls surrounded a immense forest of a garden.

::_Katschei, according to the tale, was a powerful magician who collected rare and valuable things, including beautiful princesses_,:: Zabimaru prompted me.

_AH_! So _now _I recalled where I had heard the name before. On one of my first missions I had encountered a young mortal child who had been able to see me. At first she had been afraid, because she'd been able to see Hollows too (poor kid actually _knew _that there were _real _monsters out there in the world) but after I told her that I was a guy who killed Hollow's she'd labeled me a Knight and told me all about the other knights in her story-books that slew monsters and rescued damsels. Curious about her, and the mortal world, I revisited her every night that I wasn't out hunting Hollows during the length of my mission. She made me read to her from out of her storybooks in exchange for telling me about what her world was like. We'd read an old story that had mentioned a Katschei in it. I didn't really recall the details very well... it had had a prince and a firebird in it, and the prince had rescued the princess that the Katschei had taken. I sorta recalled that the Katschei had been a really powerful magician who had found a way to turn himself importal, by sealing away his heart, and that the Katschei had hidden his heart in a really strange place.

"Wasn't it inside a diamond?" I asked Zabimaru.

"More than that as I recall," Zabimaru said. "It was in a chest hidden at the base of a tree, guarded by an ogre and in the chest was supposed to be a rabbit, inside that rabbit was the diamond that held the magicians heart and magic."

Huh. Well, that made it easier!

::_How so_?:: Zabimaru asked.

"It looks like I won't have to go huntin' through this guy's enormous castle," I said cheerfully. "All I have ta do is sneak in there, find that tree, kill that rabbit and catch 'is heart, then once I've got it, I'll just hold the heart fer ransom and get the Earth Emperors jewels back."

::_You really are just a simple creature, aren't you_?:: Zabimaru noted wryly.

I smiled. Yeah.

"Fair's fair, y'know," I said. "If he didn't want anyone comin' after 'im then he shouldn't've stolen the goods in the first place. I'm just here ta steal 'em right back, or ransom 'em, whatever works better."

I was still a thief after all. Even after all of these years I'd spent outside of the Rukon District I still had that hardened Rukon thief-edge. I hadn't been much on the liftin' lay, but I knew as well as the next hungry thief how to bide my time in the shadows until an opportunity presented itself.

::_If you are going into the stronghold of a magician, you may want to tone down your reiatsu_,:: Zabimaru suggested. ::_Otherwise, he's going to be able to sense you coming_.::

Good point. I stilled and focused my attention inward, envisioning my chakra, calling and casting layers of shields around them and weaving bonds around all of my meridians so that only a very very faint trickle of power escaped, less even than what I normally used. The point was to keep my presence low key after all. When I opened my eyes and looked down, all of my tattoos were back properly on my body! Weaving down my arms and across my chest, surrounding my abs and hips was a dark knot-work of tiger stripes and interlocking tribal artwork. I couldn't see my face but I imagined that since I'd bound my brow chakra, the ones on my forehead were probably in place too. I smiled; it felt like I was _back_.

I scouted around from the edges of the forest, looking for sentries or guards but didn't encounter any. So I flash-stepped from the edge of the surrounding forest up to the wall encircling the castle and its gardens within and put myself flat against it. The stonework of the wall was mathematically precise and so carefully put together, even without mortar, that I couldn't have slid a piece of paper between the blocks, much less the edge of my sword. No problem. I just took a running start and flash-leaped up to the top of the wall, and scouted there, looking down into the garden beyond.

The garden was tended, I noted, by strange little manikin-looking things about four feet tall that didn't quite seem to be _alive_, or at least alive in the way_ I_ thought of the word. They didn't seem to be self-aware. There were lots of them and they were all armed with with rakes and garden shears and bags slung over thier backs. The little creatures moved almost mechnically, like little wind-up toys, in specific tasks among the garden. One would trim the hedges and another little manikin would come along behind it and rake up the fallen leaves, and another manikin would come behind that one and water the flowers. They completed one spot in thier tasks and then moved onto the next. The gardens themselves seemed to be divided up into parts; a complex, twisting maze of tall rose-hedges took up one third of the garden, a carefully tended bit of wilderness with faux ruins took up another third of the garden, and the final third resembled the gardens at the Kuchiki Estate that I had glimpsed on my visits there to report to my Captain. They had clearings with founains, minature ponds with decorative bridges and tiny pavilions in them.

Inside the garden, patrols of gardener-manikins traveled in shifts, but there were also patrols of guard-looking type manikins. The Guard manikin things were larger than the gardeners, standing about six feet tall, with massive torsos and stronger arms to swing those huge sprears they all had strapped across their backs. Luckily for me (who was intent on sneaking around for now) they wore armor that clanked loudly when they walked. I waited, hidden in the shadow between the top of the wall and a nearby watchtower, for a clear spot to open up in the patrols and landed softly in the hedge-bushes of the nearby garden.

:_So far so good_,: I thought as I padded on silent feet through the carefully tended grass of the garden whithout making even a whisper of sound. I ducked into the bushes as the patrols of guards passed and waited patiently nearby while gardeners attended their spots, waited until the coast was clear and slunk as quietly as I ever had when I was set on stealing food, from cover to cover. An hour into my heart-pounding game of dodge and hide I realized that, even without looking into the main castle (which was massive) the gardens alone were massive enough to take hours to cover without a definite plan in mind.

:_Damn, I'm gonna have ta think about this one then_,: I thought to myself.

Well, what did I know about men who pursued power and collected stuff? Men who wanted more and more power to horde away wanted someplace they would consider it safe to keep. Maybe he had it hidden under his castle, that would make sense if the access to it was limited. I dreaded the thought of having to figure out a way to navigate a possible rats warren of underground passages. But hoarders, in my experience, tended to separate their "lives" from their hoards. They might live surrounded by all of the stuff they considered valuable, but the real core of themselves that they considered to be personal they definitely kept separate from the junk they accreted. They were usually pretty fussy about their collections too, very "this went here, and that went there" kinda guys. If he collected stuff and hoarded it, that meant he was like a miser...

:_I got his number **now**_,: I nodded to myself, pleased, as the key to unlocking his character and figuring out a way to beat him appeared in my mind.

He was just exactly like those Rukon merchants I had used ta steal from when I'd been a kid. Those Rukon merchants had been rough, cruel, ruthless and _utterly _without compassion. They guarded thier territory jealously and chased off anyone they thought might be a threat to what they had. They hoarded their goods exactly the way misers hoarded gold. But the best of their stuff, I had learned through long observation sitting in the shadows of nearby alleys just watching and waiting, the _best _of their stuff they kept right close to 'em, in a place where their eyes could fall upon it regularly to make sure it was still there.

:_So Katschei's nuthin' but an overblown Rukon Merchan_t,: I thought. :_I used ta steal from his type all th' time fer a livin', this should be a peace o' cake_.:

::_Don't get cocky_,:: Zabimaru reminded me. ::_You still have to find the heart_.::

Hm, well, the gardens were clear so whatever it was he was hoardin', chances were that it wasn't ta be found out _here_. He might have a special wing in that castle of his where he kept all of his personal belongings. It looked like I was gonna have to go inside and have a look-see. I made my slow and careful way over to a nearby entrance to the castle. I could tell by the way it was stark and unadorned that it had to be a servants entrance. This was one time where I wasn't going to mind taking the backdoor in. I listened careflly at the door and heard only silence on the other side. That didn't mean much though, this whole place was eerily quiet except for the occassional clank of a guard-dummy.

Silence and caution were the words of the day. It might be fun ta take on all those guards all at once. I was betting that they wouldn't be any more of a challenge than yer average bottom-rank Hollow, but Katschei was said to be a very powerful sorcerer in all those stories an' magic-type stuff wasn't really my thing, especially strange magic-type stuff.

:_It's been a while since I had a nice good fight_,: I thought as I tickled the lock on a nearby door to get inside. :_Not counting the one with you of course Zabimaru_.:

::_Hmph! I should think so_.::

I peeked inside the room and found it to be a storage closet filled with baking pans. I had thought that the Katschei only collected things of value, it looked like this guy was just like a common Rukon bag-lady (unless he _actually _had _use _fer about five hundred baking pans). I ducked back into the low-level passage-way and ghosted along the hallway. All of these appeared to be servant's passages. I nipped round a corner as a little servant-manikin wearing a cap and apron and weilding a broom nearly spotted me. I crouched down under a stair and waited.

:_I jus' don' like dealin' with all o' this weird stuff. I mean, why can't things be simple? I go out there, I kill a few Hollows and call it a day. That's the life_.:

::_You sound like a low-rank peon_,:: Zabimaru remarked.

I paused. I guessed I did. Funny how I'd never appreciated the simplicity that came with having no real options but to follow orders.

:_Nah_,: I decided firmly. :_Yer right, I'd rather carve my own path_.:

I was certainly blazing my own trail through the Divine Realms, gate by gate, busting into foreign courts, stealing from legendary immortal magicians...

I located a guard a carefully tailed him, sticking to any shadows and cover that I could find as he moved along his assigned patrol route and after a little while of observation I noticed something odd about them. They didn't seem to be aware of each others presence. Whenever they crossed paths in the course of their shifts they just walked on by like the other one didn't exist. Any human guard or soul reaper guard, even the most disciplined would at least share a few words. These guys were like machines.

Once the first Guard's round was done with (and he started on it again) I ghosted along until I found another one, slowly starting to get a feel for the way the system worked by the time I got to my third Guard. It wasn't like I was invisible, but it seemed that the manikin's had been poorly constructed (I was betting that the magician Katschei, true to miser tendencies, had wasted as little magical power as possible on the guard constructs themselves, counting on quantity rather than quality) and as long as they weren't staring me straight in the face, they didn't seem to notice when I shadowed behind them. I shook my head. This guy was just sad. Or stupid. Or both.

In the course of the tour I found out what it was that Katschei hoarded. Everything. He had rooms devoted to Ancient Egyptian burial treasures, Babylonian funeral masks, Greek urns, Russian matryoshka (nesting dolls), Roman weapons, Chinese statuary, medieval tapestries, Persian rugs, Renaissance artwork, all the way up to a hangar filled with vintage model cars. There was more sheer _stuff_, almost all of it valuable in some way, than I could even _begin _to imagine. How long had this guy been collecting?

:_We have a Class A, Level Five hoarder here Zabimaru_,: I noted whimsically.

::_We do indeed, and you seem to have noted that all of the guard patrols pass by that particular room at least once in their shifts_,:: he replied.

I was watching that room right then as a matter of fact.

:_Yeah, they sure do_,: I said.

The place in question was located in a central tower, surrounded by three of the five main castle wings. As such, it was definitely in a place that was nearly constantly guarded. I was betting that the master of the castle visited it at least once a day too. I had found myself a nice little hidey-hole in a spot on a rafter suspended between two corner-pieces way up in the ceiling, partly hidden by someone's ex-coat-of-arms. I was nicely hidden there like a little spider as the activity went on underneath me. I could watch the patrols of guards come and go at my leisure and I had a good view of the strongbox door. Well, if his heart wasn't in there, maybe I'd find the treasure in there anyway and not need to take the trouble to negotiate.

:_Whatever it is_,: I thought with a partial yawn, it had been a very long day so far and I was beginning to run down a bit. :_He values it_.:

I wasn't sure what kind of magical protections he had on that place. It would be easy enough for me to physically pick the lock but if I tripped up his magical protections it'd probably set off some kind of alarm and all my sneaking around would have been for nothing. So I waited. It was hard not to slip into sleep because it had been such a long day already for me, but I held on to wakefulness by a hair, allowing myself only a light doze. It would be really stupid if I just fell asleep and got caught by snoring or falling out of my perch.

I wakened fully at the sound of an unfamiliar footstep; not the guards usual clanking, but a lighter, quicker tap. Coming from out of the hallway that led to the north wing was a short, squat little man with spectacles and a bald pate wearing a long dark robe-looking garment and reading from a very large book paced up to the door made a gesture of a cross surrounded by a circle and said

"By Earth, Water, Fire and Air, I command your bindings loose."

The sigil glowed in four colors for a moment and then he pulled out a key, turned the lock and entered.

:_Who does he remind me of_...?: I thought the moment I clapped eyes on him. Something about him seemed familiar to me.

When he glared up in irritation after nearly running into one of the guard-manikins the curmudgeon-ish scowl on his face told me all I needed to know. He was another of Captain Kurotsuchi's ilk, half-crazed, sorta brilliant and utterly annoyed at interruptions from whatever it is they were workin' on. Kuro-kookie was famous for his hatred of being interrupted in the middle of an experiment. I half expected to see a little manikin version of Nemu trailing along behind the guy.

He came out a few minutes later, still holding his book, and paced back down the corridor. I waited a while for two more guard patrols to go by, for there was a long pause in between every two guard shifts, and then slunk down from my perch. I quickly scurried like a rat through the open space in front of the door then mimicked the gesture and incantation that the Katschei had used, unbinding a lower chakra and pouring a little of my own power into it. To my relief it didn't seem to have some kind of magical recognition spell (if there was such a thing) on it and I pulled out my lock-picks and tickled open the lock. I slipped inside and shut the door behind me. To my relief the interior was well-lit... however what I found when I got in there wasn't at all what I had been expecting.

* * *

**And with that little cliff-hanger I leave you in suspense until the next time. Ciao darlings! ^_^**


	35. Realm

We stared at each other for a long moment, both of us plainly surprised at what our eyes met. She was probably just surprised to see me period, but I was surprised because I had been expecting to see a store-room full of treasure and not some kind of strange glowing bird-woman in a golden cage.

She was beautiful, with hair made of dancing flame and skin that glowed a with a lambent golden light, eyes that shone like two live coals from a fireplace. Her body was elongated and sorts egress-looking, and she was covered in a cloak of feathers that flickered like real flames. She seemed warm and alive and powerful in a way few things were anymore.

"Oh, ah, well..." I said, scratching the back of my neck as she regarded me in a way that didn't seem _at all_ human. "This is awkward."

There was nothing at all in this room that resembled what I was lookin' for.

"Human," she said in a soft voice that nonetheless resonated with an inhuman power. "You have come seeking to free me?"

"Ah, no," I said with awkward honesty. "I'm actually kinda on a mission from the Court of Genbu. I'm lookin' fer his diamonds."

"I see," she said, clearly disappointed. "I am Firebird. I long to be free as I once was, but no mortal who has ever found this place has managed the task."

"Oh, gee, that's too bad," I said, stiffly.

I could hear what she was asking and I really didn't want ta get caught up in the mess. I was kinda busy right then and a side-quest inside of a side-quest would be inconvenient.

::_Is that the direction your heart tells you is correct_?:: Zabimaru asked.

Well, no, but...

:_Ah, what the heck, I'll help her out_,: I decided.

I was already there after all. And who knew, maybe she could help me find those diamonds so I could get back to what I was doing.

"Hey, ya need me ta pick that lock for ya?" I offered, pointing to her cage.

"The lock you see is only part of what keeps me imprisoned here," she replied in her beautiful voice.

Of _course _it was.

"The only way to free me is to find the heartsblood diamond that Katschei the Deathless has imprisoned his heart and magic in. It is the Keystone of this realm. The spell that holds me prisoner in this place drains me of most of my power in order to uphold the spells that maintain this castle. If you break the hold his magic has then the spell that holds me bound will loose its power."

Well it looked like I was goin' after that heart anyway.

"Ya know where I can find it?" I asked her.

It would be a big help if she did.

"The rose maze garden," she replied. "In the center of the garden is the heartstone, the center locus of all the spells that maintain this realm. The window to his workshop and quarters is in the tower above the garden so that he can put his eye on his heartstone regularly."

So I get that heartstone of his an' I can use it ta kill him?"

"Not precisely, in order to kill Katschei the Deathless you must first break his power. It is his magic that renders him immortal."

Well that was...damned inconvenient.

"What you must do is to find a way to sneak inside of his magic circle and grasp his heartstone, then use your own power to displace his magic from within the stone. After you have conquered the stone, making him mortal, then you will be able to destroy his heart and Katschei the Deathless will no longer defy the duties of a Soul Reaper."

Geeze, it seemed like everybody and their gramma knew what I was. Nature Spirits, oi! Still, I appreciated the help.

"Oh, well thanks," I said, listening outside the door and waiting for the second patrol to pass. "I guess I'll help ya out missy, but ya owe me one."

"I thank you," she said, inclining her head regally like some kinda princess.

I slipped back out and down the maze of hallways that made up the castle. Anyone else might have been having difficulties, but I had grown up on the twisting and uncertain streets and back-alleys of Hangdog. This was nuthin', especially when I could just follow my own scent back. Dodging patrols was really the only dicey part and that was more amusing than anything since they all moved in predictable patterns.

The garden was waiting for me and I cut through the faux ruins garden and over to the entrance of the rose hedge maze without tripping any alarms or alerting any patrols. I wondered why the security in that place was so lax.

:_Maybe he feels like he doesn't have to fear any sort of enemy attack_,: I thought to myself ducking behind a bush and waiting for another patrol to pass.

After all, it would take a being of unusual power to create a Portal to another Realm that couldn't be detected. There was no doubt that Genbu was powerful. Katschei was probably just like the Captan of Twelfth, so secure in his own prowess and power that he never for a moment thought that anyone would dare to challenge it.

:_I don't like maze_s,: I grumbled to myself.

I didn't like puzzles period, I liked things simple and straightforward and obvious so that they were easy to figure out.

I sighed a bit, looking at the complicated network of passages that turned and twisted in and back on themselves. I'd be here all night trying to figure this place out. I poked at one thorny wall, just to see if maybe I couldn't just cut through it, but the hedges were like steel and they thickened when I disturbed them. Nuts. I entered the labyrinth and got a couple of turnings in when I heard the clanking sound of guards moving nearby. I leapt up to the top ridge of the hedge and stifled my little gasp of pain as the thorns clawed through my clothes and into my skin. The guard passed beneath me and I shrugged, and started leaping from wall to wall, headed straight for the place where I smelled powerful magic on my tongue. I had to move quickly because the Firebird lady had said that the Katschei could see this place from his rooms, at any moment he could look down and see me bouncing along. I couldn't flash-step because that took reiatsu and I had to keep mine hidden to keep a low profile. Still I got there pretty quick, even with ducking down to hide from patrols.

The center of the garden was an enormous stone circle that had to be at least ten feet in diameter. Concentric circles in the stone were laid out that had strange and intricate sigils and nodes and lines painted on them in multicolored glowing light. All of those circles surrounded and centered in on a round stone altar in the center of the array. On top of that altar was a glittering muti-faceted stone about the size of my two fists put together that throbbed with a glowing power in a steady beat like a heartbeat. That had ta be it.

Of course it wasn't going to be _that _easy. Curled up around the array was a long, deadly-looking dragon with its tail tucked in its snout. There was a harness-collar around it's neck linked to an iron chain (that was as thick around as my own bicep) tied to the bottom of the pilar. I sucked in a breath and tasted the wind, it smelled of that dry, faintly sandy scent of reptile. Still, it didn't seem like the creature could scent me and it hadn't seemed to notice me yet either.

:_Huh_,: I thought. :_Not much of a guard dog if i c'n git this close without it noticing me_.:

Yeah, typical miser. Too cheap to buy a real guard-dragon so he binds up a cheap one and keeps it hungry ta make it mean. I didn't have anything on me that would put it ta sleep, mores the pity (could you even drug a dragon?) so I was going to have to find some other way to incapacitate it.

I thought about it for a little while. I was impatient to be getting back, I had wasted so much time dancing around this place already. Part of my just wanted to walk up, pull out Zabimaru and kill it, but... something about that didn't feel right to me. The dragon wasn't my enemy, not like a Hollow or an Espada was, it felt wrong to just kill the beast simply because I found it inconvenient.

:_I'm not turnin' inta some kinda wimp or a softy, its just that a guy's gotta have his standards, that's all_,: I justified. It just seemed ta me that there was some sort of fine difference between killin' somethin' in the line of duty or because ith threatened me, and killin' somethin' because it was inconvenient. Still... there was more than one way ta skin a cat after all (as I could personally attest to, having skinned plenty of them for food in Rukon).

So how did I take the dragon out of the picture without killing it. If I tried to free it, it would probably try to eat me anyway, if the collection of decaying human bones littering the ground around it was anything to go by. I thought about it for a while and a fun plan occurred to me.

I carefully unbound my lowest chakra and pulled out a small trickle of reiatsu, just enough for me to flash-step with. I darted into the clearing.

"Hey, scaley! Biiiida!" I pulled down my lower eye-lid and made a face at it. "Boggeley-boggley-boggeley!"

The dragon, sighting me after I got its attention, set up a loud howl, rising to its feet and straining on its chain after me. I flashed out in the opposite direction that it had seen me in and hid nearby in the hedges. Sure enough a few minutes later, the scowling old curmudgeon stomped down with a large party of guard-manikins to see what his dragon had found. Seeing no-one nearby and sending his guards in the direction that the dragon seemed to want to go in, the master, after a long wait and no results, berated the beast for being startled by nothing. Katschei left the garden and I waited, patiently, for the dragon to settle back down and for Katschei (presumedly) to go back to whatever he had been interrupted from. Then I did it again, from a different direction this time.

"Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!" I taunted the second time.

The dragon raised the alarm and I flashed to another spot too quickly for it to follow me. The master of the castle came stomping back down, clearly irritated at having been interrupted in whatever he was doing. The guards were sent out in the wrong direction again and after turning up nothing, the dragon was yelled at for the false alarm once more.

I repeated the process, each time waiting long enough for the Katschei to get back to his work before stirring up the guard-dragon again. On the sixth time the sorcerer finally got smart and left some guard constructs behind, and I was tempted to pull out Zabimaru and have a little fun with them, but I was busy right then and it would have given the game away if I had. The guards, even stupider than the dragon was, were even easier to fool.

:_Maybe Captain Kuchiki is right about something_,: I thought in amusement after the fourth time they were all so easily duped. :_It really must be sooo hard to find good help these days_.:

It took a few hours but Katschei finally got fed up with the constant interruptions from the beast over what looked like nothing and unchained him, driving him off with slaps and kicks and berrations to another part of the garden so he could finally get some peace and quiet. I waited another hour or so, just to be certain the coast was clear, then I flashed over.

"Howl, Zabimaru!" I commanded. My sword shikaied and we took care of the pathetic specimens that Katschei used for guards in three strokes. Really, it almost wasn't worth the effort.

I stepped onto the stone circle with some trepidation but after a few moments and nothing happened, I strode right up to the heartsblood diamond. It was as big as two of my fists. I followed the instructions that the firebird had given me, unlocking all of my first chakra and opening the floodgate just to be sure I got enough to push out his own power. I gathered a massive amount of power at my highest level. Bright crimson-red power flowed out through my meridians and into the diamond where it coiled like a snake ready to spring, calling up a sourceless wind and a crimson light all around me. When I had seen even high-level captains unleash their own considerable reiatsu, it had done much the same but the highest color they achieved was the powerful blue-white light. The red of my lowest chakra wasn't near as powerful as the golden yellow of Zaraki or the frost blue of Hitsugaia, but it had a density to it that it had lacked before, and since I could access all of my first chakra instead of just the portion that Zabimaru had allowed until now the trickle of power that had gotten me to Lieutenancy was now a full fledged mudslide. I pushed it out, forcing it into the heartsblood diamond, where it began to battle with the power that was already in there, spreading itself out. The two colors vied inside the stone, looking like a bottle of oil and water being sloshed violently around.

The Katschei came running with an enormous pack of his own guards and flung a spell at me the instant he saw me. I just ducked behind the pedestal, using his heart as a shield. He didn't dare pull out his really powerful stuff with that stone in the way. His guards were pathetic, but the sheer number of them entertained me good. They came at me in droves only to be cut down by my sword, thier own weapons as useless as toothpicks compared to Zabimaru's sheer strength. It was a good time!

The guards were fun, but I wasn't actually there to play, so reluctantly I got down to business. With the knowledge of how to do so whispered into the back of my mind, I gathered up more power from within me, the crimson red lightening a bit to a more coppery tone, and pushed it down the tang of the blade, making the knotwork etchings glow like fire as I pushed the power outward and it made a diamond edge of coppery light all along the edge of Zabimaru's blade. I waited for just the right moment. When the crimson colored light of my own reiatsu flared up momentarily in victory, overtaking the greyish-hued light of Kastchei's power, I took up my blade and swung down hard on the stone. It didn't just shatter, it _exploded _outwards in a grey-white burst like a lightning flash. The whole Realm seemed to cry out a scream of denial even as the Katschei did, his body disintegrated into dust leaving behind his vengeful-looking soul.

I was surprised, I had forgotten that he'd actually been a still-living (or somewhat still living I guessed) mortal! The ghost, naturally, expanded and masked over into a Hollow immediately. Due to the immense power he'd wielded in life, he became a nice _big _Hollow. I felt happiness well up from within me... At last! Something that actually resembled the world I had unwillingly left behind! I hadn't realized how much I had missed it.

I faced off against the turgid spider-like looking Hollow that the man had turned into after his mask settled with a feeling, almost of gratitude towards it. I was still gonna do my thing, but I was happy to be doing it. It shot one of its scythe-like forelimbs at me, trying to cut me in half but I flashed out of the way and charged in swinging, lopping off the offending limb at the middle joint. The matching limb behind it gave it a try and I met it with Zabimaru, beating it back then reverse swinging around to try to take it off, but was blocked. I leapt and dodged another attack by the scythe-limb on Hollow-Katschei's left side and took that off. He attacked once again and I blocked him with beating blows from my sword. A deadly sort of dance ensued as I used Zabimaru to block and attack the swings of the Hollow's many scythe-like legs and claws. It's face, protected in the center of its body, glared at me balefully with eyes that had lost thier humanity. I quickly came up with the strategy of darting around and under his body, trying to confuse his limbs. He was a noob as far as Hollows went, and it'd be a cold day in hell when I couldn't beat one of his kind with practically one hand tied behind my back. Sure enough, it wasn't long before the Hollow, so very new to his form and unaccustomed to it, became entangled in his own appendages and stumbled. Waiting for just that opportunity I charged in.

"Hup," I panted as I pushed myself into the air, flipping Zabimaru point-down before me.

"Hyaah!" I cried as I fell like a guillotine blade, slicing the Hollow neatly in half. The former Hollow immediately disintegrated and I felt a small feeling of satisfaction at that... right before the magic-circle around me started acting up.

Uh-oh," I muttered, caught off guard by the sudden weird turn that things had taken.

Only then did it occur to me that I might have made quite possibly a fatal error in so carefully shuffling the magician off the mortal coil for good. It was his power (presumedly) that had created the Realm by magic, and it was (also presumedly) his power that held it together... so if I got rid of him, then what happened to the Realm?

The sigils in the stone circle flared up with blinding white power as the earth shook and the air trembled. All the lights inside the castle flared up a bluish color. The glowing stone circle dimmed down and turned from a multi-hued silvery white color to a deep crimson, the crimson light slowly traveled up through the spectrum from orange to gold to green then aqua and finally deepened into ultra violet blue and settled in at an indigo light. The power within it was pulsing steadily and I very much wanted to ignore that its pulsation was in synch with my own heartbeat.

I blinked a few times to clear my vision and looked at the pedestal. The huge fist-sized diamond that had been there was gone... or _mostly _gone. There was a smaller stone there now that glowed with a lambent indigo light, pulsing steadily. I reached out onto the pedestal and picked it up. It was warm and the power felt like... me.

:_I think I've just been **had **again_,: I thought in irritation.

The firebird woman hadn't mentioned that part of my own power would remain sealed inside the stone when she told me ta put it in there. I quickly checked my chakra out, they were basically fine but there was a nice sized chunk of my own personal power missing. I sighed and put the stone in my pocket, no sense in leaving it lying around, and flashed back to the castle. As I darted through the garden and then through the halls of the castle I noted that the manikins that had been tending the place and patrolling it had all dropped wherever they were from whatever they'd been doing like puppets with their strings cut. I opened the door to the room that the firebird was being held in and said

"I got a bone ta pick with ya lady!" I held up the stone, pulsing with power, so she could see it.

"You didn't say nuthin' about my own power being stuck inside this rock."

She looked at me mildly and said

"I wasn't certain that this would be the case. It was one of many different possibilities."

"Oh yeah? Well what were the others?" I demanded, not exactly certain that I wanted to know.

"Everything might have been fine," she enumerated calmly, ticking the possibilities off on her long elegant bird-like fingers.

"The stone might have backlashed on its master destroying the Katschei, it might have destroyed the both of you, or it might simply have drained all of your power, killing you," she recited with disinterest.

I stared at her.

"You risked my life, the life of a perfect stranger who was nice enough ta help you out instead of just leaving you there ta rot, and you don't even _care _that you might've killed me."

"Mortality among Human's is relative," she replied mildly. "You would simply have been placed back in the cycle of death and rebirth."

"Well _I _know that," I said in annoyance.

I was a Soul Reaper after all, who else but me would know better?

"The point is that if you're gonna gamble ya should risk yer _own _skin and not the life of some poor unsuspecting guy who's being a good samaritan."

I was saying this, even as I was picking the lock on her cage. Geeze, I really did seem ta have a stupid weak spot fer women.

"A Good Samaritan?" firebird questioned. " I had assumed that you were helping me out of self-interest."

"I don't got no intrest in you, self or otherwise," I snapped. "I toldja already I'm here fer Genbu's stupid diamonds. I figured they were in here because this was one of the rooms that was so heavily guarded."

"The other three contain other beings like myself, one from each of the four elemental courts."

Great, I supposed I was gonna have ta rescue them next.

"How do I get my power back out of that rock?" I asked of her.

She'd gotten me inta that mess, she could at the least figure out a way to get me out of it. after all, I could have just left her there. She didn't tell me what I was risking when I took up the task so it was partly her fault.

"Katschei the Deathless was an ordinary mortal magician-"

"I know, I wasted his Hollow form when he died," I said.

Firebird regarded me for the first time with something that resembled an expression on her face. I pulled out Zabimaru to show her.

"I'm actually a Soul Reaper," I said.

"A _mortal _Soul Reaper?" she said, sounding surprised.

"I know. Doesn't happen, does it?" I couldn't help the bitter tone that escaped at the reminder of my current predicament.

The sooner I got that Shadow, the sooner I could go back the the Seireitei, explain what was going on, and finally have someone start working on a way to un-mortalize me.

"Most peculiar," was all she said to that.

"As I was saying, Katschei the Deathless was a mortal magician who, in the course of his research figured out a way to both trap immense magical power, power enough to create his own Realm in the Dangai, and to make his life and youth extend indefinitely. Not only that, but he was truly deathless, because every time some mortal managed to "kill" him by stabbing him through the heart, he had a spell set up that would transfer his spirit to a waiting gigai, thus bypassing the cycle of death and rebirth."

"How nice for him," I said, not really caring.

"The heart with his magic that he imprisoned also acted as the lynch-pin that held all of the myriad spells that he used to create and maintain this Realm together, including the ones that drained me of my power, to help him to maintain his realm."

"Oooo-kayy," I said, not seeing the significance of that.

"It means," she snapped, irritated with my density. "That the Realm, in order to hold itself together, needs some kind of a heartstone. Now that Katschei is gone, and will no longer keep coming back, there needs to be some unifying magical force, to keep the layers and layers of his magical spells that keep this realm in one piece together. The Katschei had always used his own magical power, which he kept inside that diamond, but since he is well and truly dead..."

"The spell just took mine,"I finished for her.

"Making you master of this place and all of its contents," she said in a hinting manner.

She looked like I should be happy about something.

Oh, nice. I was the master of a whole realm full of old human stuff. I wasn't the sort who went around just gathering stuff like some old Rukon bag-lady. What the hell was I supposed to do with it all?

"That's uh, that's really great," I said unenthusiastically.

Maybe I could give it away as gifts? Naaahh, I didn't know that many people!

"I thought you humans dreamed of wealth beyond imagining!" she snapped, sounding irritated. "You look like someone just gave you an unwanted present and you're not certain how to turn it down without being rude."

"Is there anyway to undo it?" I asked impatiently.

I didn't care how the Katschei had managed the trick of living for so long or building his own realm with magic or anything like that. That was magic-type stuff. Boring. I just needed a way to get it undone. It was bad enough that I was already bound into a mortal shell, I didn't need to be the glue that held a bunch of human spells together via a rock that held a chunk of my reiatsu in it on top of all of that.

"The only one who really knew how it was done was the Katschei and he's already gone," firebird said. "You could look in his workroom though, the spells were complex enough that he had to have written them down, maybe you can figure out a way out of them."

Great. Great. Greatgreatgreatgreat. Was she ever barking up the wrong tree there.

"Well that's not immediately useful," I said. "Instead of that, do you know a way to bind a Shadow?"

Firebird blinked and stared at me.

"You've heard of them?" she said in surprise.

I quickly gave her some few details about why I was after them, leaving out all but the very essentials.

"So what do you know about them?" I asked.

"More than you'd think," she said. "If there was one thing Katschei liked, it was gloating to his captive audience."

I smiled wryly at that. Captain Kuro-kookie was the same way. Once he got going on about how brilliant and superior his intellect was compared to the rest of us you couldn't get him to shut the hell up.

"The Shadows were confined mostly to their own Realms, for centuries" she said. "Because, even though they were ancient gods, their power was limited once their Realms started to fade around the edges. They couldn't travel very far from the centers of their personal power for very long, until recently, because they had no way of taking that power with them. They would have to go back and recharge before they faded out completely. But someone, I don't know who, approached Katschei one day with a scheme. The guy had a way of making the Faded, that's another term for Shadows because their power is faded from what it once was, he had a way to enable them to gather up their power and carry it with them instead of being tied to their own realms. The only thing that was needed were heartsblood diamonds. Once they had those they could use them to create a heartstone, that's like a source stone that holds all of their power, making a Shadow able to travel at will without going back to their realm to recharge themselves."

I didn't care much about that, what was important was

"So the Shadows are tied to their own heartsblood diamond now, instead of to their Realm?" I asked.

I couldn't help feeling urgent when I asked next

"So if I destroy their heartstone, I destroy the Shadow?"

"You _can't_ destroy their heartstone," she said bluntly.

"I just destroyed Katschei's diamond!" I protested hotly, frustrated at being so close to victory and having it slip out of my grasp.

"You could do that because he was, after all, still only _mortal _and so are you... basically. You are a Soul Reaper, so mortal souls are your baliwik. The Shadows are not and never were mortal, you couldn't summon up enough spirit energy to destroy thier mitama if you drained yourself of even the energy you need to exist."

_Daaaaammmiiiiiit_! I railed inside in frustration.

"The best you can hope to do is to bind their powers and forms back into their heartstone," she replied. "Once you do they'll just be imprisoned, helpless inside the stone, like genies inside of their lamps."

"Really?" I said, hopefully. "How do you do that? What's the spell?"

"First you have to defeat it's physical body, and a lot of them, even though they aren't what they once were, are still _very _powerful, so it won't be easy. Lower level Shadows won't have any form but a vague shadow, but the more powerful Shadows will have created physical shells that they control like puppets. The weak ones can be defeated pretty easily once you know where to hit them. The more powerful ones will have to have their guardian puppets defeated before you can attack the Shadow itself. Secondly, you have to pull thier mitama from out of inside of them. Only then can you bind them with the spell that will trap them inside their own heartstones."

"How do I get that spell?" I asked next.

I wasn't very good a kido bullshit and I'd never even heard of the other kind of magic they used out there in the Dangai until now, but I was willing to learn if that was what it took.

"The binding spell you are looking for calls on the four elements," she replied. "You'll need permission from all four Courts to use a spell that will enable you to put a bind on Spirits that answer to that element."

I tried to suppress a groan. This just kept getting more and more complicated. Now I had to travel to the other courts and beg them for permission to use their power?

"Luckily for you," Firebird chirped brightly. "Myself and the other three that were imprisoned here are all high-ranked members of our respective Courts. To repay our debt to you for putting yourself at risk for our sakes, we in turn will give you our words to go to our home courts and ask our respective emperors for the talismans that will grant you access to the elemental power."

Well that was more like it.

"I kinda need it in a hurry," I reminded her. "Mortals generally run around working fast."

Firebird looked oddly at me for that but inclined her head regally in acknowledgment. I started picking that lock.

"There," I said after a bit and swung the door wide. "Yer free. Now let's go get the others out and see about getting their help too."

The castle was massive, but the chambers I was looking for were not hard to find, just by the reek of magic emanating from them. The other three captives were all women too, a powerful old crone of the earth, another pretty young woman resting her fishy tail in a large pool of water, and an intellectual-looking older woman who reminded me a lot of Lieutenant Ise Nanao. Each of them were nicely grateful to me for getting them out of there, (the fish-woman was particularly solicitous of me for having been stripped of a portion of my power by the heartstone, but I suspect that empathy was merely a part of her nature) and each of them helpfully promised to quickly go back their respective courts and petition their emperors for permission to use that binding spell to entrap Shadows. Since a verbal promise wasn't worht the paper it was printed on, each of them gave me a talisman that would enable them to find me later to deliver the court sealed permission.

They each Portaled off to their own dimension and I walked off to locate the workroom.

The guy's library was immense, I mean not just huge but... it was so big that I couldn't even seem to wrap my mind around it. I had considered the library at the Seireitei to be large, but this guy's book collection had to have easily been _twice _that size. The private collection alone that was located in a study just off where he slept (I could tell by the scent) was the size of a good sized humman library. They were all advanced tomes about magic, not just elemental magic, but also the summoning and binding of ghosts in the mortal realm. There was a nice sized section devoted to Soul Reapers and Hollows, and another section off that one that dealt with zanpaktou. There was a section that dealt with Hueco Mundo and Espada, and a relatively slim (though tall) volume entitled "Yl Thyorie and Trieeteeze of Hallouficacion" which I translated to mean it was about something called "hollowfication."

"What's that, I wonder?" I muttered to myself, momentarily sidetracked. I pulled out the volume from the shelf and thumbed it open flicking through the pages, then once I got a handle on exactly what it was my eyes were seeing, nearly dropped the book in shock and disgust.

If I was reading it right, the book was suggesting that a Soul Reaper would gain greater power and access to powers that Hollows had, like cero and sonido, if they developed the ability to take on the attributes of a Hollow temporarily. My lip automatically curled up in a snarl of distaste, my figurative hackles raising at that. Just what kind of idiot would come up with an idea like _that_? Soul Reapers existed to fight Hollows, not to try to be one of them.

:_Didja see that, Zabs_?: I asked, still a little shocked. :_Some idiot thinks it'd be a good idea to turn Soul Reapers in ta Hollows fer th' sake of a little more power_.:

I liked to be strong as much as the next dog, but there were some places that even_ I_ wouldn't go.

::_When you become obsessed with the enemy, you become the enemy_,:: Zabimaru replied solemnly.

"Well that's one book that's not making it out of this pile," I said firmly. "The world's got enough problems with regular Hollows and now the Arrancar and Espada, plus this Shadow threat... we don't need to go turnin' th' good guys inta Hollows too."

I firmly put the book back in its place and went back over to the elemental section. It took some while of hunting but I had pulled down a small pile of books and some scrolls that looked like what I was looking for. The guy had a lot of them, my guess would be that he had collected a lot over the years because he had four powerful elementals locked up in his basement fueling his magic spells and that if they ever got loose they'd come after him first. I just picked out all the books that mentioned bindings and Shadows and elementals all in one and left the rest. Out of curiosity I also nipped over to the section that had all of the volumes about Soul Reapers and Zanpaktou and other things related to it (like the Soul Socity, the formation of the academy, and the Spirit King and Court) and scanned down the titles looking for a good read. Most of them looked like they were written in an archaic-type dialect, and a few of them appeared to be private journals from Soul Reapers that had been doing the job since before the Seireitei had been developed. I wasn't a history buff, but I had learned that journals were usually the least boring thing to read, because it had real people in them. There were a lot of books.

"This looks good I guess," I said, stuffing my findings into a nearby pack and slinging it across my chest. "Now to find that chest."

It took me sifting through four neatly arrayed treasure store-rooms in order to find what I was looking for. There was one small mercy about all of this, at least this guy wasn't one of those hoarders that left everything in a huge pile on the floor. No, he had it all arranged neatly on shelves, behind glass... even labeled. In the process I found another of those bag that hold a nearly infinite amount of stuff without getting any fuller or heavier, I placed all of the books and scrolls I'd grabbed out of the library in that satchel and slung it across my chest instead. It took me a little while of searching, I figured that a treasure that valuable would be on the same floor and in the same area that his sleeping chambers were, so I started my search there instead o the treasure rooms down on the lower levels.

I finally spotted the chest, made of hardwood covered in green and white laquer with designs on the top and sides that looked like the lid of a tortoiseshell and the skales of a snake, bound in white gold with decorated locks on all of the sides, in between a redwood chest with feathers carved in it and a blue stone urn chased with silver and studded with blue gems on a pedestal with one other container in a locked room a few paces away from the guys main workplace. Even if it wasn't labeled, it looked like this would be it. Examining the box for damage and to make sure I'd picked up the right item, though when I shook it it didn't sound like it was even half full. Oh well, it wasn't my fault, Genbu had just asked me to bring the box and its contents, it wasn't my lookout if Kastchei had already gotten rid of some of them. I headed back to the gate. The coordinates in the nodes locked onto the ones for Genbu's court and the gate shimmered open revealing the starpath through the Dark Between.

I arrived at the Court of Genbu and revealed the chest I had brought back to the guards guarding the gate. The lizard men all exchanged looks, like they hadn't expected me to come back or something, and escorted me to the throne room. I was surprised when I got there to see Isana perched on a cushion on top of the dais wearing a very very ornate and beautiful kimono in green and white and gold, looking for all the world like she belonged there and wore such clothes as a matter of course. She was playing a lively tune on a violin while the surrounding members of the court clapped or stamped or whistled and a few small earth spirits were capering about dancing. Everyone looked like they were having fun. I snorted to myself, I'm off risking my neck playing "dodge the guard" in some immortal magicians Realm, and _she's_ throwing a party.

"I'm back," I announced.

By this point I had been going for hours straight and I was about dead on my feet. I held up the chest.

"Is this the chest?" I asked.

Genbu looked over, as though mildly annoyed at having been interrupted. He had a nearby servant examine the chest and the servant confirmed that it was the item he had requested.

"And you did not open it?" the servant asked.

"Nah, I'm just the get-backer, it's not my job," I said. "I'm exhausted, c'n I get someplace ta sleep fer a while before I go?"

I figured the guy had more than enough space, he could spare a bed for a few hours as a gesture of hospitality.

"The mortal may stay with me," a wizened and somewhat familiar voice said off somewhere to the right.

"**Yours Is A Face We Have Not Seen Grace Our Court For Some Many Mortal Years, Old Woman**," Genbu said in surprise.

I was surprised too, because I recognized her! She was the old crone that I had just rescued from the Katschei's lair.

"Your Majesty, I have returned," the old earth-spirit woman. "I was lured into a trap set by that deathless immortal and bound into the magic that maintains his realm by a powerful spell. This boy here set me free when he got rid of Katschei once and for all."

It sounded oddly enough like she was promoting me or something. I was too tired to even want to _try _to figure out why. I just wanted to go to bed and then get to tracking down that damned Shadow in the morning.

"**It Is Difficult For Us To Believe That Your Grace Was Held Prisoner By A Mere Mortal Spell**," Genbu said dubiously.

"All of us have our weaknesses outside of our stronghold dearie," the old woman cackled.

"Come boy," she commanded me with all the energy of a commanding granny.

I shrugged at Isana and followed tiredly behind her. I could go longer than yer average mortal, but even _I_ got tired, especially since I was bound in this mortal form and not in my real form.

She led me through the vast and intricate hallways with their lacey stonework arches, the louvered windows, the intricate mosaic tile.

"If you've been gone for so long," I said, suppressing a yawn. "How do you know that yer rooms are still there?"

"No-one," she replied. "Not even His Majesty himself, would dare risk offending this old woman by suggesting that there was not a place at Court held for me."

Oh.

She opened a rather stark unassuming stone door at the end of a hallway. I blinked, too tired to even be surprised by that point, when the doors opened up, not into a room but onto an open space with endless skies littered with stars and a moon and a huge mountain dominating the vista. There was a smooth stone path leading up to an enormous arched entry way carved directly into the side of the mountain, lit with what looked like glowing white crystals. I just trailed behind her. The doorway led to a stone staircase carved directly out of the rock that led down and down and down. The walls of the mountainside on either side of the large stairway were carved with scenes that had been embellished with gold and precious metal inlay and gems. I was too tired to even figure out what the pictures were supposed to be.

"Mistress!"

There was a great cry of joy from hundreds of tiny (and not so tiny) mouths as soon as we emerged from the tunnel. The Queen, it appeared, had returned. There in the central courtyard that led to a massive underground palace that I couldn't make out many details of, were hundreds of tiny little dwarf-like creatures with larger ogre-looking creatures ranged behind them, all bowed over with their heads touching the ground.

"Carry on my dears," she instructed with a regal wave of her gnarled old hand.

I thought I detected a bit of moisture in her eyes though. Her Vassals hastened to do her bidding. She gave instructions that I was to be fed and bathed and given a place to sleep and whatever else I asked for. I tried to thank her for her generosity of course, but she waved me off.

"I especially owe you," she said with a frankness that I appreciated. "You were already on a mission for the Court and you risked your life to set us all free. You could have just left us there, me especially, since you didn't _need _my help to get what you were after. You could have left the four of us bound in that realm to stabilize it."

"I wouldn't do that," I said honestly around another yawn.

"I can see that," she smiled. "You're good people. I can see why Zabimaru chose to fight at your side. Off with you now boy."

She made a gentle shooing gesture with one hand.

"These old bones have longed for a good rest in our own bed for many years."

"Hey, don' let me keep ya," I said and eagerly followed the tiny servant she had told to show me the way to my own bed. The quarters granted me were more lavish than anything i had ever slept in before, the cavernous vaults of the ceilings were carved with natual scenes and inlaid with precious gems and metals, the tile floors were all mosaic and the appointments and furniture were all sumptuous and luxurious. It should have bothered me being under the ground, but for some reason I found it homey and comforting. It might have been Zabimaru's influence. And speaking of Zabimaru...

"Hey buddy," I said, inviting him out to materialize in solid form. "You wanna go out an' visit yer old friends? I don' mind if ya do. You've been workin' hard all this time ta help me make somethin' o' myself, especially lately with the chakra stuff an' all. You sure deserve a good vaccation, buddy."

"There _are _a few matters that I wish to look into," he replied.

"Sure!" I said cheerfully, yawning and placing myself at the small table in one of the smaller antechambers to one side that was loaded down with food.

"Go have fun," I encouraged him. "Go out drinkin' with yer buddies an' catch up. Just be ready ta git back on the road tomorrow mornin'."

Zabimaru nodded once at me and took himself off. I remained behind on my lonesome.

The food was tasty and there was plenty of it, the bath felt like heaven, and I was never so happy in all my life to get horizontal. I don't think i even felt my head touch the pillow before I was out like a candle.

* * *

**Just so you know, the next chapter is still Renji, I haven't had the spare time to write the side-fic, but when i do I will. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and look forward to the next. **

**~Nightheart.  
**


	36. Mascot

I woke the next morning feeling well rested. Laid out for me nearby was a suit of clothes, familiar-looking ones for they looked nearly exactly like my Soul Reaper uniform, only they were done all in brown and green (green being the under-layer with dark brown over it) with a green sash instead of black and white. I felt more touched by that than it was really manly to admit to. I dressed and tied back my hair and a servant appeared out of no-where and showed me to an outdoor room where a table was set up with breakfast.

The old woman was already there waiting with Isana seated in a chair near her. Isana was wearing what looked like very elaborate and elegant court robes in greens and whites and gold with her hair tied up by combs. She looked like a hime-sama from out of a storybook.

I greeted them both and applied myself to breakfast.

Isana shook her head at my single-minded devotion to filling my stomach and raised her wrist to show me something. It was a gold charm bracelet with four very elaborately detailed gold charms on it. There was a flat disk that was blank and shiny on one side and on the other side had a five-pointed star drawn in intricate knotwork surrounded by a circle also done in knotwork with a green gemstone in the middle. There was a tiny little athame-shaped charm with an ornate cross-guard made of feathers and the beak of a shrieking bird at the pommel. There was a tiny chalice with a very detailed depiction of frothy ocean waves and fish, complete with tiny, tiny glittering scales and jeweled eyes studded with tiny gems on the sides. And there was a tiny rod with flames twisting around the side of it with a small multifaceted gem at the top.

"As promised," the Old Woman said. "The woman whom you are vassal to has received permission from the Courts of the Four Elements to call upon thier power and to practice a binding spell that will seal the power of even an old god."

I blinked in surprise. What was this about me being a vassal? I was no-body's vassal! I felt indignation well up in me at the implication that I was some kind of menial. However, now that I had stopped telling lies to myself honesty prompted me to remind myself that the statement wasn't really true. Back in the Seireitei I was Lieutenant to Byakuya Kuchiki and when he said fetch, I fetched. I didn't _like _it, but I did it. The little missy too, was also able to lead me around by that iron ring she had spelled around my throat, so technically, whether I liked it or not, I was her little Soul Reaper-Guardian until I could rescue her kid.

"Lord Genbu seems to like me," Isana said. "I played on a violin I'd borrowed for hours and sang songs and everyone seemed to love it. It was like a celebration or something. They gave me clothes and gifts... He even had one of his court scholars teach me the spell while you were away."

Oh, well I guess those books were unneccessary then. I wasn't interested in detouring back to the Katschei's Realm (now mine apparently, whether I wanted it or not) so I'd just stick them in Isana's little bag until I was done.

"It is rare that we have such a pleasant mortal come to visit our court," the old woman said, smiling beatifically over at her. "And one that is so talented too. We of the Divine Realms may be powerful, but creation and imagination is mostly a Human trait. It is increasingly rare that we are able to hear new music. It is always a cause for joy when we are given something new."

I didn't get it, but I was glad she was making friends, I supposed. I was rested now, and eager to get back to my mission. We didn't have to wait around for our permission slips or that spell so we could get right back onto the trail of that Shadow.

"There are a few things you should know about the Realm that is now yours Mortal Warrior," the old woman said, turning to me.

"What's that?" I asked politely.

I wasn't really all that interested in it, but if she wanted to tell me I didn't want to offend her by refusing to hear about it.

"Created Realms here in the Dangai exist and are held together only so long as the magic that fuels them lasts," she informed me. "In a realm like Katschei's that would be especially true, since it was created by a mortal using spells instead of by a god or powerful Nature Spirit."

"So now that I've broken Katschei's lynchpin, the place is gonna fall apart right?" I surmised.

Hopefully it wouldn't take _me _with it. If that was the case I had to figure out a way to get my power outta that rock before it could suck me dry to try to use me as fuel to hold that place together.

"That would normally be the case, but luckily for you, Katschei was a true miser and he hoarded more than just rare things and treasure, he also hoarded power. He has enough of it locked away in various magical cisterns to last for centuries."

"If he had all that then why did he bother taking the four of you prisoner?" I asked curiously.

"He's a miser," Old Woman replied with a shrug. "It's not enough that he would have the power stored away-"

"It's more important to him that he doesn't spend any of it," I finished for her, nodding understanding. "So I guess I don't have ta worry about that place falling apart and takin' me with it. Well, that's a relief."

I'd figure out what to do with it later, maybe I could sell it or something. Heh, there'd be an advertisement in the paper! **_"Former magicians lair. Massive collection of art, antiques and magical artifacts included, for sale to highest bidder."_**

The Old woman looked at me with a piercing look and said seriously.

"You should be more careful boy. You shouldn't leave things lying around where people can find them, especially _important _things. The biggest bargaining chip here in the Divine Realms is power, boy, and now you have a great deal of it. It is fortunate for you that I owe you a debt of gratitude, otherwise, I might have been tempted to take _this _and make use of it."

She pulled out of the pouch at her waist a stone pendant on a chain. I recognized the deep indigo colored stone that pulsed with a soft light from within steadily in time to my own heart as the Heartsblood diamond I had won the day before. It had been cut and polished from its former rough, shattered appearance and now was a true jewel; a trillion-cut stone in deep indigo, like finest tanzanite. It was put into a setting of white gold where a snake wrapped over the bottom left and top corners of the triangle and what looked like the massive forearm of a baboon held that bottom left-hand corner of the gem. The chain was thick and made of matching white-gold links.

"I took the liberty of refining your heartstone myself boy,' she informed me, handing it over. "One doesn't trust things like this to underlings. You would do well to be very careful what you do with it. That stone holds more than merely a piece of your power..."

That sounded ominous.

"Whaddaya mean?" I asked cautiously.

"If you are ever killed in mortal form, your soul itself will be called to re-join it. I wouldn't go handing it around if I were you, it would give a being _complete _power over you should they choose to use it."

"Thanks, I'll remember that, " said seriously as I clasped the thick chain around my neck and let the gem fall next to my heart.

I appreciated the extra effort she'd gone to for me, and the warning. I'd be careful with this, people in my life already had enough power over me without me handing over complete mastery. My heart already figuratively belonged to another, I didn't think that it would be wise, however to make it literal. Rukia got me in enough trouble most days even when I had the ability to tell her no sometimes. As for the mortal woman, that gaeas she put on me was a real pain in the ass, but my conscience nagged that she was a single mother, alone in the world with her son having been kidnapped by Aizen and she was desperate enough to try anything to get him back. Besides all that, she was Rukia's sister whether she knew it or not... in a way that made her family to me (in the rukon sense) and I had a duty to look out for her as best I could.

"Your heartstone can act as a magical keystone as well," the old woman informed me. "All you ould need to do is go over to any gate, present the keystone and concentrate your will and the setting will change. It's like that for all of we who have our own little pocket realms."

It looked like I was now a member of the country club.

I thanked the Old Woman of the Mountain for her help and Isana walked back with me up to the Court proper so that we could leave through the Gate and get back to tracking down her son. Isana insisted on saying a formal goodbye to Genbu and I had to agree that it would probably be a smart thing to do. We finished in short order an were walking down the hall from the Court proper when we were brought up short by the sight of a tiny little aqua-green furry critter with eyes that looked like multi-faceted red gemstones and a body that vagely looked like a cross between a badger and a rabbit (or maybe a ferret... perhaps a chinchilla?) came streaking out of a side passage. It was making a little squeaky-noise in terror. Then came the sound of a terrible roar, not of pain but of anger. Isana scooped the little critter up in her arms where it cowered, shivering in fear.

"Aaaww, you poor thing!" she exclaimed, taking one look at its furry, big-eyed cuteness and cuddling it.

I was reminded of Rukia; _she _had used to try to do that to dinner a lot when we'd been growing up. That was why the fish. Fish were in no way cute or cuddly. Every time I tried to go out and catch a rabbit, we'd get into a fight over it; I'd insist that whether it was furry or not didn;t matter, it was made of meat and so therefore belonged in our stewpot and Rukia'd just cuddle it and try to protect it... just like Isana was doing now.

There came another roar and the little critter started shaking and squeaking all over again.

"Oh, what's the matter little guy?" she asked solicitously.

Then she stared in shock.

"Renji... I think it just _answered _me."

"Huh?" I asked, wondering if maybe all the stress was finally getting to her.

"The little ferret-thing," she said. "I got pictures in my head. That giant ogre-bull-thing likes to push it around and bully it, and there's nothing the poor thing can do about it since the master won't interfere in squabbles between his vassals. The poor thing's being used as a kick ball."

The sound of heavy, stomping steps echoed up from down the hall and Isana turned her big brown eyes on me in a puppy-faced pleading look.

She _had _to be kidding.

"We don't even-" I protested, knowing exactly what she wanted from me.

"Pleeeease," she said.

She held the little critter out right in front of my face, just like Rukia had used to. The critter looked at me with wide, gemlike pleading eyes. I looked back at Isana and frowned.

"But we don't-" I tried again.

"It's so tiny and helpless, don;t you have a heart? Don;t you feel sorry for him?" she pressed.

I looked in the direction of the roar and sighed in resignation. There was the sound of loud, thundering tromphing steps coming up fast. I sighed in frustration as I pushed Isana behind me as the little pest burrowed into her arms. I'd just know this woman was going to be nothing but trouble for me! What a softy I was turning out to be. I couldn't help it though, she looked so much like Rukia and it was such an ingrained reflex for me to give Rukia whatever the hell she wanted. A huge beast that looked like a cross between a human and a bull came gallumphing up the hall.

"Move aside Human," it demanded when it saw the creature cowering in her arms.

"No!" Isana snapped firmly. "You're bullying this poor dear and I won't have it."

"Carbuncle is my servant, I shall treat him how I like, mortal," the bull-man said to her.

He'd just lost some respect points.

"You shall return him to me," he crossed his arms over his massive chest and loomed intimidatingly at her.

"I shall not," Isana said firmly, drawing her dignity about her.

"You cannot appeal to the emperor, for he will find in my favor. That servant belongs to me."

"He belongs to himself, he just took up service with you so he wouldn't fade away," Isana replied, that regal aura coming out again.

The bull-man, apparently fed up with philosophy tried to reach forward and take it away from her by force.

"Back off, bub," I snarled, putting a hand to Zabimaru and using my other arm to slap the offending hand away from the woman.

"My quarrel is with that Mortal that is trying to steal my servant," the bull-man said.

"If you've got a problem with the lady," I replied. "Then you've got a problem with me."

The bull man's gaze centered on me for a long moment and he pulled out a long, two-ended staff. He turned to face me, posture at the ready. I drew Zabimaru. I was all for a little light morning excersize.

"Howl, Zabimaru!" I said as my blade shikaied and the fight started. It still felt a little strange to be fighting with a long, straight piece of metal instead of with the snaketail but I found that my body remembered those old ordinary sword patterns from back in the academy before we'd gotten our zanpaktou, and the learning curve wasn't all that bad.

The clash of our blades attracted a crowd and there was the inevitable betting going on along the sidelines, most of it was against me I noted. Well that was fine... It felt good just laying some ordinary smackdown on an opponent. When our blades met, my sword told me that the bull-man was a firm and steady strength but that he had a weakness of being too rigid, and too controlling and had a tendency to think that strength was everything. He was strong, I'd give him that, every time our weapons bashed against one another I could feel the impact jar my limbs. Still, strength, while it was nice, wasn't _everything_. I dodged around to the side turned a flip and lopped of his horns, then while he was distracted, I met a swing of his with a full-force swing of my own and his weapon broke in half. The two blades went spinning, and he stared at me down the reflective length of Zabimaru's steel form, the tip of which I'd touched to his throat in warning.

"I yield me, Mortal Warrior," the bull-man said reluctantly.

"Yay!" Isana cheered, tossing the little furball up in the air and catching him. I rolled my eyes and sheathed my blade. There were murmurs from the spectators.

"Hey Renji, Carbuncle says he wants to join us!" I sana called.

"No-way," I said flatly.

I had had _more _than my fill of plucky and _annoying _little sidekicks running all over my missions. That brat Ichigo seemed to attract them like turds attracted flies. He had a whole zoo full of 'em, an' every time I went anywhere with him and the irritating things showed up and _wouldn't go away_, I always seemed to get stuck with the weirdest and most annoying one out of the bunch! The first time was bad enough with that annoying gay-ass purse-thing with the rabbit ears, but then, when we went to Hueco Mundo, I got stuck with Mr. Maskface McDoncha-know.

"Aw c'mon," she said stepping up beside me to match my pace. "He doesn't have anywhere else to go. You just humiliated his master so he can't go back there."

"Not my problem," I said flippantly.

Then there was the soft, subtle sound of a sniffle. I looked over to see Isana doing that big-eyed pathetic look, that said wordlessly "you're so cruel." Did they take women aside in the nursery and show them how to make a man feel exactly three feet tall with just a look? Was it a class? What?

"Aw c'mon, we don't have anywhere ta put him," I justified.

It was bad enough that I had one civilian to keep an eye on, I had no intention of building up a menagerie of annoying mascot-sidekicks like that brat always seemed to do and that was the end of that.

"I mean it," I said firmly. "The furball stays."

"S-so meean," she whimpered, giving me puppy eyes. "How can you say no to this?"

She shoved the creature at arms length into my face. It squeaked at me and squinched its nose up cutely.

"No."

"But he's so cute!" she tried again, smiling up at me with that smile that looked so much like Rukia's I felt myself waver just a bit.

"And that's a recommendation how?" I asked, turning to continue down the hall towards the exit.

"But he's all alone..." she said sadly.

"Yer breakin' my heart here, really. I mean it."

She quickened her pace until she was beside me.

"Well I'm keeping him," she said firmly.

"Do what ya want, but the minute he gets in my way, he's gone," I said.

I wasn't going to argue with her about it either. She wanted him? _She _was responsible for him, I was just the hired muscle, I was not a babysitting service.

Isana stopped right there in the hall and placed her hands in a cupping motion right at her chest and summoned up a ball of reiatsu. She must be a really quick study. Took after her sister I supposed. The reiatsu flared brightly and then sunk down to her feet where it spread out into a circle followed quickly by another circle and with a knotwork of lines and strange symbols around them. I couldn't even begin to imagine what it was for and the design looked too complicated to figure out easily.

"Solid Firmament, strength and peace..." she chanted. "I call upon the power of the Earth."

The charm bracelet she'd gotten (supposedly from the other four courts) glowed suddenly and one of the charms, the flat pentacle disk, detached from it. Glowing with a brilliant green light it began to expand in size from its miniature form until it was the size of a large hand mirror. The smooth surface glowed with greeen power that tasted like leaves and freshly tilled soil.

"I, Isana Rourke do offer my power and strength to enter into contract with you, oh Noble Spirit," she intoned. "Become one with my power and rest you here with me. Hear my commands and come to my aid in time of need."

The little greenish furry ferret thing seemed to hesitate for a moment, considering, then drew itself up on his haunches, bowed to Isana and hopped up into the air, tumbling end over end while a cocoon of light spun itself around it. It drifted over to the mirror and disappeared inside of it. The mirror shrunk back down to its former size and the glowing circle disappeared. Isana, seemingly suddenly very weak, sank to her knees and I had to move quickly before she hit the floor. I steadied her until her feet firmed under her.

I was about to ask about what had just happened when the Old Woman, chatting with a small knot of courtiers nearby, called over to me and said

"Your mistress has the ability now to enter into contracts with any free roaming nature spirit who may wish to leave its current situation and take up cause with her. My former sisters in captivity took the liberty of enabling the talismans she bears create a connection back to your Realm where they may wait and replenish themselves. Lady Isana may call upon them, and bring them from that realm to her side to aid her in her need."

I looked at her in surprise. I'd never heard of anything like that!

:_And I really wish they'd stop calling her my mistress_,: I thought to myself.

It was bad enough I had a collar on me, it was worse that everyone and thier granny seemed to knw who held the leash!

"A word of caution, however," the old woman continued, soley to Isana. "About manifesting the nature spirits who may come to your banner Lady Isana. It is your own power that calls and keeps them in a place that is not their new place of power. The time that you can summon them to your side to aid will perforce be limited, and entirely dependent upon your level of reiatsu. The more powerful the Nature Spirit you would summon, the more energy it will take from you."

I understand," Isana said, bowing formally to the Old Woman.

I followed suit, she hadn't had to but she'd done us a favor... maybe. Part of me wanted to ask what she got out of it, but I decided not to, no point in risking offending her, besides knowing the fair ones, she'd probably done it just for kicks.

A mostly ordinary mortal human who could contract with and summon Nature Spirits... Now I'd seen everything.

"As long as you don't go calling it up just to annoy me, do what you want," I grumbled, heading toward the gate.

"Right!" she said cheerfully.

We were transported right back to the world we'd left off at and I picked up the trail again. It was a little faded from when I'd last left it, but I could still follow it easily. We tracked it to a gate and I fed the thing a littel power and put Isana on my back to flash-step down the starpath to the next realm.

The hunt was on again.

* * *

**I loved this chapter, it was fun to write.**


	37. Let The Journey Begin

The next realm was another that had gone to wrack and ruin and I narrowed my eyes, noticing a pattern. The Shadow, which had, by all appearances, been doing nothing but steal children for the last long while now seemed to be just hopping from Realm to Realm and gate to gate. All the Realms it visited seemed to be uninhabited by anything but indigenous spirits gone feral. After the first two or three attempts by Isana to make friends with them... that had resulted in her nearly being ripped apart and eaten, I'd called a halt to all friendly overtures to anything with teeth bigger than Zabimaru.

At least the journey wasn't completely boring. The various hostile creatures that attacked us along our way through the Realms kept my attention sharp and my body active. Isana, however, did not look at all happy about being constantly attacked. I liked it because it gave me a chance to fight, but she looked at the Realms surrounding her as we walked along with wide, worried eyes and started at every little noise and movement. She was like one of those skittish little lap-dogs that rich women carried around with them.

"Will you relax?" I finally asked her after two hours of watching her jump and startle at every little noise and movement.

"You saw what the last one looked like," she said nervously. "It had teeth as long as my forearm!"

"Yeah, but it still wasn't a match fer _me_," I replied easily.

It was true, the last feral creature we'd come across, a huge beast that looked like someone had taken a bull and tried to make it look like an alligator, had been fun to kill. I'd barely even broken a sweat taking it out while the little missy had looked like she was in fear of her life. I guess that was what came of living in cities all the time, they made a person soft and unable to handle even the least little bit of danger.

"That's what ya keep me around for ain't it?" I added.

I didn't bother disguising the undertone of bitterness to that comment. Sure, I was having fun seeing places no other Soul Reaper had and fighting off my share of feral monsters, but when it came down to it, I was _still _doing all this under a geas. I resented that.

"What else was I supposed to do?" she said defensively. "I can't fight them myself."

"Helplessness is no excuse," I muttered. "Besides, you could have just asked me."

"Would you have let me come along if I had?" she replied archly.

Innate honesty prompted me to answer

"No, I'da made you stay in the Mortal Realm where Mortals belong, but I'da still gone after yer kid... I'd just have been able to move a lot more freely without-"

Another great beast popped up out of the local flora, springing at us with its jaws gaping wide open ready to try to take a piece from our hides. Isana screamed and grabbed my free arm, cowering behind me as I sighed in irritation and met it with a swing from Zabimaru, slicing it neatly in half down its length. It burst into stardust and the particles of light drifted away as had all the ones that came before it.

"...Having to keep a watch on you all the time," I continued not missing a beat as I walked along the pathway through the Realm, following the scent of Shadow.

"Well, I'm the one with the binding spell," Isana countered.

"Which I would have also, if those Elemental Court beings hadn't figured that I was just your Vassal and you were the _real _power in our little duo," I countered. "See, that wouldn't have happened if you hadn't decided to nab me for an adventure, whether I like it or not."

"Oh please, don't act like a victim! And stop whining!" she scoffed.

I was half tempted to dump her down the steep side of one of the nearby gorges in this world.

"You were going to go anyway," she continued. "And whether it's convenient or not doesn't matter. I'm not going to abandon my son. Even if you do seem like a nice person, I can't just leave his safety or his life up to anyone else. Besides, haven't I been useful?"

"Yeah, yer real good at picking up trouble," I muttered.

We abandoned the argument, which had been pointless and going no-where. I was under a geas and she was coming along, and that was how it was so it was pointless to argue about it. We'd just have to find her son and that Shadow before we drove each other crazy.

The worlds we gated to, in hot pursuit down that trail left by the Shadow, were all left in ruins. Whether they were the crumbling remains of pillars sticking up out of the dirt and detritus, or just a scrubby, overgrown wild nature, everything always seemed to be in a state of run-down chaos. There was something even stranger about most of them too, I wasn't sure exactly how to describe it except to say that they looked like they were coming unraveled. The realms looked "frayed" around the edges, like someone had taken a sweater and pulled on the string that knit it together and it was coming undone. There were all sorts of different places and environments. From crumbling old temples painted with Egyptian hieroglyphs filled with tiny little dried-up mummy creatures about the size of three foot high people (who attacked in droves), to strange jungle-overgrowths filled with weird tropical plant-animal looking things that moved up in the trees and along the ground with equal ease.

Zabimaru and I were getting our groove back in his new form. Snaketail was still out of action despite looking recently a little recovered so I was using his "howl-form" instead of his "roar-form" it was easier to distinguish them by thier release commands than it was to go calling them "snaketail-Zabimaru" and "Baboon-King-Zabimaru" they were both Zabimaru, just different aspects of him that relied on different strengths. The enemies we'd come across so far had been nothing more serious than what I would have routinely faced on a normal mission, about the strength of your average, run-of-the-mill Hollow. It was sort of a relief, since it gave me an opportunity to practice with him at his lowest setting and work my way up (smae as I had with Snaketail back in the days) but truth be told I was getting a little tired of picking on wimps and I wanted something to fight that was, y'know, a _real _challenge.

"How close are we to finding the Shadow?" Isana asked with a tone like an over-tired child asking 'are we there yet?'

It had been a long trek for her, we'd been traveling since we'd woken that morning, gating from one world and hiking over-land, sometimes climbing up and down great vales filled with boulders or close-grown paths through dense vegetation or piking our way along a narrow mountain track along the side of a cliff to reach the next gate-portal. Isana wasn't in _bad _shape, but she wasn't in the kind of condition _I _was either.

On our journey so far, I had done a lot of the work; all of the fighting certainly, and when we reached a gate-portal I put her up on my back and flashed down the starpath through the Dark Between and into the next world. We needed to travel those starpaths quickly, before the portals ran out of the reiatsu I fed them and we no longer able to keep opne. In addition to that, if there was any truly steep and dangerous terrain to cover, I also carried her on my back in flash-leaps up and around it. If I wasn't _already _in good shape, and she weren't such a tiny thing, I'd probably be tired from playing both knight-protector and horsey as the occassion warranted. As it was, even Iwas starting to feel the effects of our non-stop trek.

"We should stop and eat," I said, effectively calling a halt by plopping down in a clear rocky space next to the path we were on.

The Realm was clear and I scented nothing that smelled remotely like danger. With all of the work I'd been doing my stomach was about to wrap itself around my backbone.

"I want to find my son," she replied firmly. "I can keep moving so let's go."

_Of course you can keep moving,_ I grumbled to myself. _Ya got me carryin' ya half th' time._

"I need food, woman," I replied. "I'm not used to being in a Mortal body and this thing needs to eat. It's no good if I have to face my enemy and I don't have the endurance to beat it down because I didn't refuel when I had the chance. We'll eat quickly and get back on the road. You look like you could use a rest too."

"I'm fine," she insisted, even as she plopped down across from me with a sigh and pulled her bag around.

She pulled out some kind of strange World of the Living food that came in a bowl with dried noodles and dried vegetables in it and began to heat up water over a small round portable stove. She also pulled out bottles of water and small packaged snacks which she had to show me how to open after I'd spent a moment trying to get at the food inside of it, some kind of grain mixed with fruit in a bar held together by honey. It was quick and it was filling and in a little bit we were back on the road again.

The trail of the Shadow was not difficult to follow. It left it's incense stench behind it ina figurative cloud where-ever it went. It was easy to track and I had to tools and skills now to defeat it, but there was still a lot about it I didn't know. By the time that Isana and I had crossed into our ninth new world for that day and started hiking over a strange new landscape of stormy grey seas, grey skies and rough jagged cliffs dropping in sheer vertical drops to crashing waves I began to wonder just how fast that Shadow could move and how much farther ahead of us it was since it had such a long lead on us. Did it need to eat or sleep? Or could it just keep going? If that was the case how were we, who were bound to the limitations and needs of mortal flesh supposed to catch up to it.

:_Maybe it has a lair somewhere_,: I thought hopefully.

It would sort of have to. It was going to the trouble of taking the (Quincy) children in the night instead of just killing them, which meant that whoever had ordered their capture wanted them alive not dead. In fact, in the Rukon District it would have made _more _sense rather than less to kill the children rather than make them disappear; a killing or a mysterious death among children was a common occurance there, it was easily explained and easily dismissed, but a disappearance was cause for alarm. A disappearance meant that someone was movin' on yer turf without permission. But the Shadow (or Shadows) had deemed that the gaining of the children was worth the risk of exposure, so that had to mean it was pretty important to someone that those kids be taken and gathered up.

:_It could have something to do with thier ability to channel Reishin particles_,: I thought. :_Or it could be because thier spirit powers can kill the Shadows... theoretically_.:

Or it could be something I couldn't even begin to imagine. If Aizen was at the center of this (and there was no sign other than just my gut feeling that he was) then that "something else" did not spell anything but trouble for anyone but me and mine.

:_The point_,: I told myself. :_Is that, Aizen or not, these kids have been taken at risk of exposure, it only makes sense to assume that these kids are not being held singly, but altogether where thier kidnappers can keep an eye on them_.:

Which would mean that the shadows had to have some kind of lair or stronghold somewhere in the divine realms.

:_I wonder why they haven't used any of these other Realms. I mean, all of them look wild and uninhabited, unless you count the ferals_.:

One of the ferals I had just been thinking about popped out of a nearby bush and sprung at Miss Isana with a scream of challenge. I didn't even twitch as I reflexively drew Zabimaru, not even bothering to shikai him against the scrawny little hump-backed shell-beastie, slashed and stabbed in a quick movement letting it turn to stardust upon being killed as I continued on my way.

:_Which seems a little strange_,: I thought.

A person would think that if a Shadow was going to bother passing through all of these different realms and gateways that have nothing in them to pose a serious threat that he'd just use one of them to hold the kids in, but apparently there was another realm that was better than all o' these other ones they were passin' by.

:_Of course, all of these little pocket-Realms all seem to be unraveling at the edges in one way or another_.:

Some of them had large patches of sky that was just missing, like someone had just torn a hole in the blue, others had horizons that blurred to black along the edges of it. It was weird and by mutual agreement Isana and I stayed well away from those missin' bits... no tellin' what would happen if one of us accidentally fell in. I killed two more ferals before the trail of scent I was following finally led us up to a gateway platform and we crossed over into the next world.

This world didn't have any ruins in it that I could see right off hand. It was instead made of granite crags and cliffs, wrinkled monoliths of mountains carved by wind and rain. There were no paths through the extremely difficult terrain and an endless blue sky stretched up overhead, broken at oddly-regular intervals by weathered rock-spires carved by the wind. The place was cold and barren but there were no missing bits in this one, I noticed a few splotched of green growing tenaciously on top of rock shelves here and there and some spots of white leaping from rock to rock, local wildlife then. I scented around a bit and picked up the trail but Isana hesitated standing there on the platform.

"Whatcha waitn' on woman?" I called back to her impatiently, we'd just had a break after all.

"I can't get around in terrain like this!" she called over to me. "I don't think even a mountain-goat could."

I sighed and flash-leaped back to the gate-platform and knelt down behind her, signaling she should climb on my back. She did so and giggled,

"High-ho silver! Away!"

"Funny," I said flatly as I flashed leaped down the craggy mountainside.

The trail was easy to follow, especially since there didn't seem to be anything getting in my way. It led straight up a wind carved vertical cliff around a small maze of rock spires jutting up into the sky like the bottom maw of an enormous beast and down into a narrow valley where I could sense the presence of a gate-platform.

"Hey Renji," she asked, her grip murderously tight around my neck as I scrabbled by hand- and toe-holds up a near-vertical incline, the wind whipping around my face. I would have just flash-leaped up it but Isana always seemed to panic when I did that... then again, she did not seem to be liking _this _a whole lot better. I didn't see anything wrong with it personally, it had been a while since I'd done any cliff-scaling but I'd always liked the activity, probably something to do with my love of heights.

"Yeah?" I asked her absently, moving onto the next wind-carved little toe-shelf.

"That's a long way down," she noted tremulously.

"Yeah," I said, concentrating on moving to my next hold-spot.

"Please don't drop me."

"Then don't tempt me," I replied.

I leaped up from my current spot to the flat area I had spied out, a good sized shelf at the precipice of the tallest rock-spire, with a little wind-carved niche protecting it. I'd be able to get a good look around from that vantage point and map out the next bit of climbing I'd have to do. In a maze of rock like this place seemed to be, it'd be a good idea to get my bearings, otherwise I might get us lost. We ducked out of the winds. Isana took a little break, huddling in the little cavelet and I went back out and scented the winds. There was Shadow-scent for certain, but I was picking something _else _up as well. I wasn't sure what it was, but whatever it was, it had a sizable amount of power. We were being either followed or watched, I could just _feel _it.

"Wow!" Isana exclaimed, joining me up on the spire of the precipice and looking at the immense and majestic vista granted by our little perch in a place that birds would probably think twice about.

The view spread out before us was... well, surprisingly magnificent.

What I had taken to be nothing more than rough granite crags and mountainsides were in fact, viewed at a distance, a whole city-complex of stone carved out of the mountains. They were all made to look like weathered rocks and tumbles of stone, but all of them were to regular and perfectly placed to be and accident. Great minaret-like rock spires jutted up into the sky with weathered pillars of stone holding up wind-carved arches in the fave of the nearby mountainsides. The spires sort of reminded me of those sorts of sand-castle decorations you got when you took a handful of wet send and let it dribble out through your fingertips, they looked natural but also strangely intricate as well. I wondered how who or whatever called this place home got around in the difficult terrain... maybe tunnels underneath? Oh well, I wasn't there to explore, just the surface of the place was incredible enough for me. I'd never in my wildest dreams imagined anything like it before. Stared for a moment more, taking it all in, then pointed to a gate-platform off to my right that I could see in the distance.

"The Shadow headed that way," I told her. "My guess would be for that gate."

Isana looked down over the edge at the near-sheer vertical drop down the other side of the rock spire we were standing on and said

"That's great, but how are we going to get down?"

I smiled. It was probably my scary-looking smile. She backed up a pace but knew she had no-where to go. I could see the panic building behind her eyes.

"Renji, no! I don't w-"

The end of her protest was lost as I veritably pounced, scooped her up and slung her over my shoulder. Call me petty, but I made sure she got a good, _long _look at how far away the ground was before I paced over to the side, gauged my distance for a heartbeat, and casually stepped off the edge.

She screamed like a girl.

I chuckled a bit as I controlled my downward momentum by skidding down on the soles of my feet. Her panicked struggling on top of my shoulder threw of my balance a bit but I compensated for it well enough. The incline widened out by increments the closer we got to the ground and I was able to slow the decent a little more. It was sort of a pity that Snakey was still asleep, his chain-blade feature would have been useful right then, now that I'd managed the trick of sliding down the flats of the blade. Even with the slight skid, it was more of a free-fall which was fine with me, I liked the feel of the wind whipping around me and tugging at my clothes, it felt great! Little Missy wasn't as enthusiastic about it as I was though. As the smaller rock-spires loomed closer in my free-fall I pushed off the side of the cliff, flipped in the air and my fet landed against the side of the nearest one. This one had a more gradual slope, which was what I was looking for to help us slow down. We kicked up a small cloud of dust on the way down. I spotted the next point I'd made n my mental map and pushed off again, sending us carreening through the air in a tight spiral, whipping out Zabimaru, shikaing him in mid-air and thrusting him point forward into the cliff-side. The large blade stuck and I used it as a fulcrum to change directions on a pivot, heading for my next target. The little Missy had stopped screaming in terror by this point and was blessedly (but a little disconcertingly quiet) on my shoulder. Well, it'd be over soon, just two more points left to go and we'd both be back safe on the ground. After pushing off the first and flipping to the second I slid down the long gradual incline of the skree slope at the bottom. We skidded to a controlled stop just shy of the little path at the bottom of the Valley that led directly to the gate-portal.

"There!" I said proudly, flipping the little missy off my shoulder and holding her at arms length to set her down on her feet. "See? Nuthin' to-"

I paused, she just hung there limply, shaking. There were tears streaming down her face and she was panting and sobbing hysterically. Oh dear. I hadn't meant to make her cry.

"Missy?" I said giving her a little shake.

She just hung there, trembling like a leaf. I bit my lip and felt terribly guilty.

"It's okay now, yer safe on the ground," I said tentatively. "See? Good old terra firma."

Her head snapped up and her wide, dark, tear-filled eyes looked up at me with unthinking terror. I felt about three inches tall.

"Aw geeze, I'm sorr-" I began.

"Sh-shut up," she sobbed. "I-if y-y-you s-say one w-word to me, I'm g-going to f-fucking k-kill you!"

"Um," I said, not certain how to make amends.

The woman was no kind of warrior and that had been awfully juvenile of me. Granted, it was the fastest way to get where we were going but-

"Missy don't cry," I said, trying to be as soothing as I knew how. "I wouldn't let anything happen to you. As long as yer with me, yer as safe as these two arms can make you."

Her answer was nothing but big hiccuping sobs that shook her tiny frame. Even worse. Shit.

"There there," I dithered (actually dithered!) flustered.

"Don't you 'there there' me!" she snapped. "You big jerk!"

That was better, angry wasn't scared.

"I know, I'm s-"

"You!" she snarled.

Power gathered about her.

"Bad Renji! DOWN!" she screamed, enraged.

It felt like the time that Kuchiki had unleashed a whole _lot _a reiatsu all at once, like the force of gravity in the world went from normal to four-G's in under half a second. I didn't just drop to my knees, I was pushed face-first into the dirt. The geas-collar around my neck flared emeraled green.

_:Okay, totally deserved that,:_ I acknowledged.

"DOWN!" She shouted again.

A heavy weight like a boulder slammed into me, making me groan, followed by another and another as she yelled

"Down! Downdowndowndowndown!"

At last she left off, panting for breath and now able to regain her composure a little.

"Ow..." I gasped, unable to move after having been effectively pummeled like bread dough in the hands of an overly enthusiastic chef.

"Serves you right!" she snapped, sounded exactly like her soul-sister Rukia.

I snorted, curling around my pain and trying to decide if I had enough in me to try sitting up. I just lay there for a minute waiting for the pain to subside.

"Oh get up," she said disdainfully. "You're not _that _hurt, you big baby."

Yep, definitely just like her sister. It was a wonder I'd survived Rukia... if this was a taste of the kind of relationship me and the missy were going to have as travel companions, maybe this nice little rock valley wasn't such a bad place to have as my grave-site.

"Try being pounded on the back with a wrecking ball and see how you feel about it," I muttered at last getting a proper breath into my aching lungs.

"You deserved it!"

"I _said _I was _sorry_! What do you want me to do, prostrate my self in abject humilty? Kiss the ground before your feet? Present my head to your sandal?" I snapped.

"It'd be a start," she replied, glaring at me.

"Hold yer breath while ya wait," I suggested.

Talk about ungracious! I felt bad that I'd scared her so much, but she could at _least _acknowledge that I was trying to make amends!

She looked like she was thinking about using the magic whammy on me again so I quickly warned

"I wouldn't. You've had your pound of flesh and I'll grant you that, but anything more than that is excessive and I'm _not _a pushover."

She paused, considering. Good.

"Fine," she said. "But next time you want to... do scary, dangerous things involving terrifying heights and dangerous plummets and no ropes, you talk it over with _me_ first!"

She kicked my shin. I wasn't expecting it and flinched a little at the unexpected sharp pain.

"That's the kind of stunt my son would pull," she continued, glaring me down. "And you're definitely too old to be acting like a juvenile!"

I took my chastising with grace if not dignity. She was right, but I couldn't say that I liked being scolded, even if I _had _earned it. I had to hand this to her however, she was good at it, and reasonable enough once she'd gotten past her fear.

"Fair enough," I said. "Truce. Truce. I'm sorry I frightened you so badly. I'm not used to the world from a mortal perspective, I've been a warrior in the feild for many decades so the sorts of things that you might find frightening simply don't phase me Missy. I'll try to be more aware from now on."

She nodded, still a little grudgingly, but was willing to accept the truce. We continued down the path to the waiting Gate Platform. The world had been quiet except for our little spat so I wasn't really expecting it when the ground before us started to tremble like and earth-quake as we approached the gate-platform.

"None shall pass!" a basso voice rumbled from out of nowhere, the deep ponderous tones of it, like a mountain given voice, caused my chest to thump in resonance. We both looked around us, bewildered and trying to find the source of it. What I had taken to be nothing more than a harmless tumble of boulders next to the gate platform, a cairn of rock like so many of the others nearby, shook for a minute and then unfurled itself, stone by stone, resolving into the shape of a giant man-like thing made of stone. It stood up and up and up, literally towering over us, a good twenty feet high. Isana crowded closer to me and I pulled out Zabimaru, ready to fight.

"Trespassers in this Realm, you shall go no farther!" the rock-thing told us from a gaping, weathered maw made of craggy stone.

"Well," I said, smiling and pulling the un-shikaied Zabimaru out before me prepratory to releasing his blade.

I smiled my Eleventh-Squad smile as I said

"That's more _like _it!"

* * *

**Ah! Finally! I had _troubles _with this chapter. When I had originally written it I had marked it for revision, not knowing exactly what I was going to do with it, just knowing that I wanted it to be different. When it came up on my posting list as I was doing to final editing I decided that it would be the perfect time to start to flesh out a little bit of what Renji and Isanas interpersonal relationships and reactions to each other were going to be like. The chapter would have more or less written itself except that I never had time to write it! It was maddening! I'd get snatches of five minutes here and ten minutes there in between my work and my summer classes and study-time and travel-time and just as I was starting to get into my groove there'd be something else to interrupt me! I about took someone's head off at one point. I've been trying to write, polish and post this thing since Monday! Graaah! Now I've finally finished it and I must say, I'm much more satisfied with this version. ^_^ It's about three thousands words longer and much better than what I had originally written. Let's hear it for revision! **


	38. Golem

"well, That's more like it!"

The enormous manikin made of craggy rock loomed above us and I pushed isana back a little bit, shooing her off my imminent battleground. She looked for a moment like she would have argued about it but I gave her another shooing motion and she subsided and walked off a little ways. I was here ta do the fightin' after all.

The rock-creature pounded on the ground with one of its massive fore-appendages right where i would have been if I hadn't seen it coming and flash-stepped out of the way. Not discouraged in the least it tried again. Its form was powerful, but its movements were ponderous and slow. If I was able to run circles around it, the Captain would have run laps.

:_This enemy ain't gettin' any deader with me just playin' dodge an' chase with it,_: I thought.

A little bored that it was so easy to maneuver around, I charged in for a swing to sever a limb, not even bothering to shikai Zabimaru, and was caught a little bit by surprise that the edge of my sword bounced right off its tough granite hide with a small metallic ping. It looked like this enemy of mine had his own defenses... good, I hated picking on wimps.

"Howl, Zabimaru!" I commanded, the enormous, sleek hourglass-curved blade sprang into being in my hand.

I flashed in and swung again, Zabimaru nicked its shell but ricocheted back without causing serious damage. I quirked my mouth to one side, annoyed. This guy would be easy to beat if I could figure out a way to get past its tough rock-skin. All it was (or seemed to be) was rocks held together and animated by magic, rather like the Captain's shikai was a bunch of sharp little razor blades held together and manipulated by his own reiatsu. I wasn't going to haul out my Bankai for a minor enemy like this, even if Snakey wasn't still out of action for the time being (it would have been an insult to my fighting ability to do so).

_Besides, I need ta start learnin' my way around howl-form Zabimaru._ I told myself.

I wasn't getting any more proficient with it, or learning how to use its strengths and abilities just by taking out small fry. Granted that everyone had to start somewhere, and I had certainly started with small fry when I'd been a Twentieth Seat Forty years ago in Fifth Squad, but I was already way past the point of small fry on even a bad day at my present level. The enemies I'd been facing did nothing for me, and they certainly didn't help me learn about Zabimaru's new form, I should use this opportunity to get some practice in.

I studied my enemy for a long moment, then studied the blade in my hand, silent, listening. As I had known it would, the knowledge of how to begin to use the abilities of my new shikai trickled into my mind a moment later. That was often the way it was between Zanpaktou and its wielding Soul Reaper, each a part of the other, and once a sense of communion was reached the wielder would know the things about his or her swords abilities when they were ready to know them.

The first and most basic ability I would learn, the one that would be the basis for many of the rest, would be the Raikou Ken (lightning blade). I very slowly and very carefully pried open the seal on the sluice-gate of my lowest chakra. I kept that one only half open and the rest of them sealed with binding marks as I was accustomed to because dealing with more reiatsu than my usual amount required more concentration than I had time to put into it right at that point. I felt my own personal power rush into me and pushed it into a collecting pool. It fought me, as usual, the stubborn stuff flared and pulled as much as it ever had and I grappled with it for a moment, and finally wrestled it into obedience. I gathered my reiatsu and pushed it down my arms into my blade. The matte-steel knotwork of tribal sigils that matched my tattoos that ran down much of the length of the tang of the blade flared into scarlet light. I pushed upwards and outwards and my reiatsu formed a diamond edge all along the double blades of my zanpaktou. Crimson flame formed a small halo of fire around its edge and sparks of lighting flew off here and there, like tiny snakes of light, crawling up and down its length being born and dying in the air. This was the blade of my will, and it had the power to cut through anything that could be cut through.

_Seems as good a time as any to try it out_, I thought.

I flash-stepped in close to the rock-golem and swung for its nearest limb. It didn't take much effort on my part, it seemed, Zabimaru sliced through the limb of the rock golem like the proverbial knife through butter. When it fell to the ground the arm I'd just lopped off was sheered, the surface of the cut stone was as smooth and shiney as polished glass. The golem swung at me Again and I waited for the blow, bringing the edge of my blade out before me and letting the golem do all the work of cutting its own arm in half. To finish the mater I swept down and in a circular slice neatly tok out its legs. Sadly for it, it wasn't the kind of creature to regenerate its form on its own. The peices moved and wriggled (creepy) but did not reform themselves.

"My name's Renji Abarai," I told it as a courtesy when I walked over to its exposed neck.

It had given me a good fight and I was a little sad to have to do this, but that was the way of battle. It had done its duty and I would honor it by giving it a quick, clean death.

"I thank you for your courtesy, Renji Abarai," the creature answered.

"Hey! Wait!" Isana called, rushing in where she wasn't wanted.

She juxtaposed herself in between me and the creature I was about to slay and spread her arms out protectively, glaring at me.

"You've already defeated him!" she scolded me. "You don't need to kill him too!"

I sighed irritatedly, annoyed that I had to explain it to her.

"This guy here is a sworn vassal servant to whatever being created it," I said patiently. "Its sole purpose in life was to protect that gate up there from being trespassed on. It had failed that purpose. It cannot face its master again with honor. Death is the only way for it to atone."

"Atone? For you being stronger than it? That's nonsense!" Isana scoffed.

I shrugged. I sort of agreed with her, but I didn't make the rules.

"The Soul Reaper is correct, Mortal Woman," the Golem replied, unperturbed. "Though my master has long abandoned this Realm, I have pride in my duty. I was fairly bested and I do not wish to continue to exist without a purpose."

"What if you got a new purpose?" Isana pursued doggedly.

"Only someone with power to create or to bind my kind can do such a thing Mortal," the rock golem informed her sadly. "Since there is no such person nearby, the best thing for me is to let the Reaper finish his work."

Isana gave a small dismissive little sniff, and gave me the same shooing motion that I had given her. Bemused, and willing to lay aside my blade to see if she really could figure out a way around the annoying chore of dealing the finishing blow to a defeated enemy, I backed off. Isana closed her eyes and a circle of green lines of light interlocked in intricate patterns I could not even begin to decipher the meaning of appeared in the ground around her. The severed pieces of the rock-golems body hovered in the air and reassembled themselves, its shape became more defined this time, less man-like and more like an enormous, slightly friendly-looking mastiff made of stone polished to a glassy finish so that the innate beauty of the stone could be seen. There was even a lovely collar with a tag around its neck that said "Bruiser" on it.

"I accept it," the new dog rock-golem said in agreement to a wordless pact spoken between them.

Isana held the disk-charm from the bracelet that the Courts had given her permitting her to use a spell that would bind elementals of all four courts and held it before her. The disk floated up above her palm and expanded, its shiney mirror-surface glowing with green light. It got large enough to form a portal for the rock-dog to walk through and it did so, fading into the depths of the mirror. The charm shrank back down to normal size and attached to her bracelet and the circle of light faded from around her.

"He said he'll come to my aid and fight for me when I call him," Isana said smugly with a little flip of her waist-length dark hair.

"Good," I said. What else could I say?

Isana went to take another step down the path but abruptly swayed on her feet and brought a hand to her head.

"Whoa there Missy," I said, quickly catching her elbow before she could fall.

If she fainted and cracked her head on a rock, Captain would crack mine. Permanently.

"We've probably done enough traveling for now," I said.

It had been a long journey so far, over many different Realms since I'd woken and we'd gotten on the road. I was getting tired too and we should both rest.

"After we travel across this gate, we'll find a quiet place ta make camp an' get some shut-eye," I said firmly.

It was probably more due to her weariness than my powers of persuasion that the little missy agreed without argument.

We made a camp in a clearing that looked safe enough, on a world where nothing had come leaping out of the bushes. I made a fire with nearby deadwood, then walked over to a small lake swarming with little fireflies dancing over the surface and tried to see if I could catch us some dinner. When I returned with two small, headless, gutted fish, I found that Miss Isana had erected a small domed tent that closed tight with those neat Mortal Realm devices called zippers (which were even better than buttons) and there was a small pot with canned soup bubbling over the fire. I spitted the fish and stuck the other end of the stick into the ground, wedged up to where it could cook in the flames.

We sat down to wait for dinner, and I tried not to think about old times. She looked so much like Rukia, I could almost pretend it was her sitting there and not her reincarnated older sister.

"So," she said into the silence. "We've been traveling with each other for a while now and I hardly know anything about you, other than that you're a good fighter and you hate being trapped in a mortal body."

What was to tell? There were a lot of things I wasn't gonna tell her, our connection being the first among 'em.

"I'll tell you what," she said after another long silence to her lead-in (when it became pretty obvious I wasn't sayin' nuthin').

"You can ask me any question you like and I'll answer honestly, but then I get to ask you one."

I shrugged. I wasn't really long on playing twenty questions, but there was nothing else to do either.

"Fine," I grumbled assent.

I didn't really wanna admit it out loud, but I was kinda curious about her. Was there a part of herself, a part of her soul, that remembered her former life, that remembered bein' married ta my boss, that remembered lookin' fer Rukia until the day she died? I wasn't a nosy kinda guy, but I did wanna know. I guess there wasn't anything wrong with findin' out a little more about her.

"Ya got a kid," I said as a preamble. "Where's yer man?"

I meant her husband of course, I was sorta figuring that he wasn't there seeing as she wouldn't have been so desperate to turn to me if there was anyone else she could turn to.

"I don't have one," Isana said plainly, with a note of defiance in her voice.

Touchy subject then. I sorta wondered what happened, but I really didn't want to pry. A moment later, when she started talking again I realized that i had once more under-estimated that female propensity for jabbering on and on about their feelings or whatever.

"I wasn't always so poor," she began.

She was gonna tell me her life story. see, this is what i got for asking.

_Women, you ask an inch and they'll talk the proverbial mile_.

"I actually come from a family that's fairly well-to-do, I mean, we're not millionaires or celebrities or anything, but we had a grand old villa with a cook and a maid, and I went to the best schools. The vineyard's been in the family for generations, so I guess you could say we're a little old-fashioned. Anyway, I had this female cousin that I grew up with that I was really, really close to. She was just like a little sister to me, and we were best friends all through our lives. Well she fell in with this... _guy_. You know how it is: "don't worry baby, I'll take care of everything..."

I winced, _that_ had never happened to anyone I knew, but in my long association with Human's I had observed that it was a common enough theme. Ouch.

"Well, she winds up pregnant and they guy runs off, may he rot in hell. So she's pregnant and unmarried, and normally that wouldn't matter in this day and age, but the family's really, really old-school so her father, my uncle, disowns her and the others won't speak to her. Well, Alexandra and I have always been close, and their behavior pissed me off, so when she left the family, I left with her. I was in my third year of nursing school by then, the family was paying for it of course, so when I defied them they'd pulled my funding and I was stuck without any money and no degree, my sister was heavily pregnant and we had no place to stay."

"Rough," I agreed.

I knew all about that 'having dependents with no place to stay' problem. It had happened to me when one of my boys caught the Riverfront Ravage; we'd been tossed out of our flop house (because the rest had been afraid of catching it) without anywhere to go and a sick kid on our hands. Rough times.

"We both landed menial work, I got a job as a waitress, and she worked in a convenience store, and together we pulled in just enough to get a small place. I got a scholarship and some grants so I was able to continue my schooling to get my degree in nursing."

"Wait a minute," I said, feeling puzzled as something occured to me. "So yer kid isn't really _your _kid?"

"He's my son in all of the ways that matter," she said with a cool sort of regal aura, as if mildly offended that the issue of whether or not she'd borne him herself would invalidate her claim to motherhood.

"Hey, easy," I said. "I'm all about makin' family where I can find it. I don't have any blood relatives at all."

She just gave this pitying look that I pretended not to see. The last thing I wanted was some mortal woman I barely knew feeling sorry for me.

"So anyway, as you can guess, my little sister's health was... fragile. I tried my best to make sure she'd make it through, I even urged a cesarian section, but she wanted to have her baby naturally. Her little body couldn't take it though, and she was one of those few cases where she didn't make it through the delivery. I took that baby boy home from the hospital and I made a promise that I'd raise him and love and protect him as my very own son."

Her voice was getting tight and there were tears in her eyes, oh maaaan, she was gonna start crying.

"So it's just been the two of you?" I asked, trying to head off the flood.

She blinked at me, looking at me with that peircing Healer's Look that she was sometimes capable of, like she was looking _into _me and not _at _me, then she smiled wryly at some thought or other she didn't share and said in a more normal tone

"Yes, just Alex and me all this time."

I gave her a long, considering look. Maybe I was biased because she looked so much like Rukia, but she didn't look terrible to me. Attractive enough anyway, I didn't see a reason why she shouldn't have got herself a man if she wanted one. I'd heard that a lot of women let themselves go once they got kids (I didn't know if it was true or not, and I valued my skin right where it was too much to _ever _ask one about it) but she looked fit enough, like she kept in shape, and her shape was feminine enough. I didn't see why she wouldn't have a man. She apparently saw the look of confusion on my too-readable face and added

"You don't seem like you know a lot about the way things work in the mortal world," she said dryly and with some amusement. "I'm a single mother trying to raise a young son, I work long hours at a nursing home to support us both, and what little time I'm not working or making sure my son does his homework and gets off to school just fine is always filled by a billion other details like grocery shopping or cooking dinner or the billion work-related things that follow me home. That's not exactly a life that's conducive to dating, verdad? I mean, there's been one or two over the years, but they never lasted very long. Alex will always come first in my life, and I'm still at the young age where the men are all still self-centered and want the relationship to be all about them."

"Just date older," I replied sensibly.

"Tried that," she said with a sigh. "I love my pretty young men too much to be attracted to the distinguished older gentleman type."

"Ah, so you have a type huh?" I said, trying not to sound like I was curious.

Isana flushed a little and said

"I'm afraid I lost my heart at a very young age... to David Bowie."

I looked at her for a long moment. I'd been in the Mortal world during the Seventies and Eighties so I knew whom she was talking about. I also knew one very pertinent detail about the famous artist that was sure to put a damper on her little fangirl crush.

"You're ah... you're definitely barking up the wrong tree there missy," I said dryly with a grin. "You do realize that the man is ah, strictly dick."

Isana blushed further and this happy little smile came across her face. I was fishing for information and there wasn't any better lead-in to see if there was anything of her old life lingering in her new one. She'd been married to Byakuya freakin' Kuchiki fer heaven's sake, I didn't think that that was the sort of thing that wouldn't stick with a woman, even in between lifetimes.

"Oh, I don't like David Bowie in particular, I just fell in love with this role in a movie he played. Jareth, Goblin King from the Labyrinth."

I looked blankly back at her. Rukia might know it, seeing as she spent so much of her time in the mortal world actually playing mortal, so she soaked up the culture a lot more than I ever had. I just went there on assignment to kill Hollows and pass on the passed-off. Meanwhile, the young mortal woman was melting into a puddle of fangirl right in front of me, she looked like Rukia in a store full of Chappy merchandise.

"He's just so cool!" she went on. "And I mean cool in the original sense of the word, he's got this... this aristocratic-cool vibe, like he's seen it all and it's just so passe."

She pulled her face into a reasonable impersonation of what the Captain's face looked like when he was being his most Kuchiki-ness and said in a cool tone (obviously quoting from the movie)

"What's said is said..."

Still smiling, she went on, clearly warming to her subject.

"And even if he was sort of mean to his underlings, he just had this elegance in the way he pushed them around that just sort of made you want to admire him a little for it... 'And Hoggle, if she ever kisses you, I shall turn you into a prince... Prince of the Land of Stench!"

Greeeaat. And just who did that sound like?

"From one lifetime to the next," I muttered.

"Huh?" Isana asked me inquiringly.

"Nothing," I shook my head.

I smiled a little at that as I turned the spitted fish to cook on the other side.

"So how about you?" she asked curiously. "I know you live in another world and all, is there a Missus Abarai waiting for you?"

I snorted at that.

"Nope," I said, trying not to sound wistful about it.

There was only one woman I wanted to give my last name to, one woman I'd ever wanted to make a family with, and my chances with her had already gone over the horizon. There'd probably never be any missus Abarai for me.

Oh crap. I was doomed to spend the rest of my afterlife by myself!

:_Provided all this mess doesn't result in me being executed anyway_,: I muttered inside my head.

"That's all, just nope?" she pressed. "A handsome fellow like you? C'mon, there must be somebody."

I looked at her from the corner of my eye. I shrugged and told her the truth. Why not?

"There's always been only one person," I said. "But she..."

"Oh, she doesn't feel the same way, huh?" Isana said empathically.

She opened her mouth and I held up a hand to shut her up before she could start spouting platitudes at me.

"Don' start in about "plenty o' fish in the sea" or that any o' that crap," I told her. "I ain't innerested in other fish, an' it don't matter if my fish doesn't want me. That's how it is, so deal with it."

I said it firmly so she wouldn't mistake me. Isana looked surprised, then smiled a little. I tried not to let her see how much it bugged me that her smile looked like Rukia's.

"Some guys are like that," she acknowledged. "Like swans, they mate for life. I wished my ex-boyfriend was a lot more like that."

I barely restrained a snort. The only ex of hers that I knew of was _definitely _like that, he still had a shrine to her in his house. Now that I'd met her living reincarnation, I found the whole shrine thing maybe a little creepy. It was okay to mourn a memory of someone who'd passed on, but this girl was very much alive. They didn't know that of course and I was bothered again by the question of whether or not I was supposed to tell anyone about Isana. I mean, a Soul Reaper's responsibility was to keep the balance between the souls of the living and the souls of the dead, didn't interfering in reincarnated souls sort of cross a line somewhere? Wasn't it her right to experience her lives separately so that she could atone and her soul could learn whatever lessons it needed to evolve towards peace? How was she going to do that if she had a bunch of people from her old life (that she didn't remember) showing up and trying to dig things up?

:_Gaaaah! Too damn complicated_!: I thought in frustration, shelving the internal debate for later.

I was in the middle of an (accidentally) extended assignement right now, I didn't have time for morality puzzles.

"So you're in love and you don't have anyone waiting for you back in your home," she said. "How about family?"

"No," I said shortly. "I have no family."

I'd kinda had one once but they'd all died and Rukia had moved on to bigger and better things, leaving me to chase after her.

Isana looked at once both horrified and pitying.

"That's terrible!" she said. "I just can't imagine it. To me, family is everything!"

I carefully kept the longing look off my face. I wished I had people like that. I guess there was Kira and Momo but...I didn't wanna interfere in their lives.

"Sounds great, so why don't ya call home? You could call 'em fer help and they'd be right there, right?" I asked.

The question slipped out of my mouth before I even realized it and I knew that it wasn't Isana I was asking, but myself. Why didn't I call home? Why didn't I contact my friends? They'd rush to my aid if I asked them to.

:_And that's why I won't_,: I knew it in the next moment.

I wouldn't call on them because I knew they _would _come. I wasn't sure where this was going and I didn't want to burden them with my problems. I didn't want them to have to lie for me, or loose face because of me. I was mortal, and if any of the higher-ups ever found out that they knew about it, it would be thier jobs on the line for protecting me, possibly even thier lives on the line. The Captain, I knew, would be honor-bound to seek me out and destroy me for breaking the rules, whether it was voluntary or not didn't matter. Byakuya Kuchiki wouldn't flinch...

:_And Rukia might hate him for it_,: I thought next.

Normally, I'd say "well good! I hope she hates him, that prat!" but deep down I knew that wasn't the way I felt about it at all. Captain Kuchiki was my rival, and the man who'd stolen my Rukia away from me, he was the stick I used to measure myself against and there were times when I just despised him. But in the end he was still my Captain, and he was a worthy one too.

:_Hating the man who'd made her part of his family would just tear her up inside_.:

I knew this too. Love wasn't about what I wanted, and it never had been fer me... love was about what was best fer Rukia.

I quietly took the fish from the flames and served it up along with the soup she'd heated and the metal wrapped potatoes she'd put to baking in the coals and we fell to, quietly.

This was my problem and my fight. Still, part of me felt really bad about not being able to at least send in a report or something. Anything that would let them track my progress or make them aware of the danger that might come sneaking up from behind when they weren't looking.

:_I mean, what if Uruhara doesn't get my letter_?: I fretted a bit.

Or what if he got it, but couldn't figure out the code and Rukia wasn't there to translate it? Okay, okay, so _that _wasn't very damned likely. But still, what if he dismissed it, or thought it was a hoax, or thought I was crazy or making stuff up?

"I guess I just didn't want to worry them," she said after a long moment. "I can take care of myself and Alex just fine. Granted, we might not have the best of everything, but we get by. We have each other."

I tried not to feel jealous about _that _either, for a lot of reasons.

"I'm going to get him back safe and sound, mister Abarai," she said with quiet ferocity. "No matter what it takes or how far I have to go, I'm going to bring my baby home."

I said nothing, but I didn't need to. We had the same goal after all, she needed her kid back, and I needed that Shadow to get rid of this mortal body. Once I did that, I could go back and report.

:_It might not be a bad idea to have something to report though_,: I thought. :_Something that'll show 'em that, even though it looked like I'd abandoned my post and went AWOL, I wasn't ever really gone and I'd never had any intention of staying that way.:_

"Hey, " I said as I finished my meal. "Ya got any paper on ya?"

"Um yeah, sure... why?"

"I just need to write some stuff down, that's all," I said.

She fished inside her travel tote and pulled out a notebook and some pens. Captain Kuchiki was always complaining about my messy handwriting, and it probably wasn't going to look any better being written by firelight out in the feild, but maybe he'd be understanding in this instance.

:_Nah, he'd probably make me do them over, if he doesn't kill me first_,: I smiled to myself at that, oddly.

I stared off into the distance, trying to figure out exactly how I was going to word it so that I got the maximum amount of information in the minimum amount of space. Captain Kuchiki liked his reports concise and to the point, but not skipping any important details. He wanted facts, not conjecture, and he liked to hear everything in order. He also had a great dislike of personal asides; the Captain didn't want to hear someone's whiney sob-story, he wanted to hear who killed what, where and how, and was there any collateral damage.

"I guess I should turn in," Isana said after cleaning her plate.

"I'll be out here keeping watch for predators," I replied absently.

"Are you sure? You should get some sleep too Renji," she protested.

"I'll probably doze a bit, but I sleep like a cat anyway. I've been on feild missions tougher than this. Don't worry."

I shooed her off and she reluctantly unzipped the door to her tent.

"Goodnight," she said.

"Good night," I replied.

:_I wonder if I should write Rukia a letter_,: I thought to myself as I tried to get my thought in order and snap into mission report mode.

But what wold I say to her? How would I start it? I dismissed the notion from my mind for the time being, chances were she wouldn't want to get one from me anyway. But what if I didn't write one and she saw that her brother got mission reports and she didn't get even a note to say hello, would that make her angry? I didn't really know. I'd think about it later.

:_Okay, mission report, mission report_...:

~**_Involuntary Mission Log, Sixth Squad Lieutenant Renji Abarai_**...~ I wrote after a long pause to gather my thoughts.

~**_Investigating the matter of the disappearances in the Rukongai, I visited Kuukaku Shiba, a resident of West District fifty-seven and well-known source of information to compare notes_**...~

* * *

**There, found some extra time to get this one mostly edited. I had to actually write in the scene witht eh rock golem because I'd somehow managed to loose it somewhere. (I just know I'll find it next week when I don't need it). I hope you all liked this chapter, let's hear it for Labyrinth references! Anybody? I'm still not happy with the fight scene, it just feels too quick and easy for Renji, but we'll say that thats only a testament to his growing strength... heh heh heh... Um, yeah. I may have to go back and re write it if I ever have time. I hope you guys enjoyed it anyway. I'll try to find time to post again real soon.  
**


	39. Under the Surface

The day didn't dawn so much as the sky slogged into light. The sun was covered by dense, murkey cloud cover. I built back up the fire that had died down from the previous night and set a pot with clean water over it and left it to warm while I streached, warmed up and ran through my forms with my zanpaktou as usual.

Zabimaru was in excellent form that morning. I had to say, even though it wasn't as familiar to me as the snaketail was, I really liked the howl-form of Zabimaru too. It was very quickly coming to feel just as good and just as natural in my hand as the roar-form ever had.

"Don't you ever give it a rest?" Isana said as she unzipped the front door of the tent and emerged, rolled up in a smaller loose furry blanket, wearing it like a druids mantle.

I tried not to remember all the mornings I had woken up with Rukia, who yawned and stretched like a kitten, then promptly stole all of the covers for herself. Like sister, like sister apparently. Unlike Rukia, her older sister's incarnation looked fresh as a daisy when she rolled out of bed. I had been aware of her rousing herself as I ran through my reps and had internally shook my head at how long it seemed to take a woman to pull herself out of bed in the morning. It seemed there was a reason for that. Even surrounded by nature and with none of the modern conveniences that she would be accustomed to having, Isana had found a way to come out with her long black hair looking perfectly elegantly coiffed; she'd braided it up and pinned it in a crown around her head. She was wearing make-up on her face, and her clothes looked perfectly pressed and elegant in a modern sort of way. She looked like she'd just stepped off the cover of a magazine in the Mortal Realm rather than having just rolled up out of a tent after a night of sleeping on the ground. Women!

I spared her only a single glance out of the corner of my eye as I ran through the last of my forms, a slower one designed to concentrate on balance and suppleness rather than speed and brute force. It felt a little weird having an audience, especially one that seemed to be staring at me rather than merely mentally assessing my skill. I hoped she didn't ask how far down the tattoos went, it seemed like every time a woman saw me shirtless, that was the first thing they thought of to ask. At the end of the form I shikaed Zabimaru and slid him home in his sheath and turned to face my erstwhile traveling companion.

"There's hot water over the fire if ya wanna do some girly stuff with it," I said without preamble. "I'll be back in a bit."

I was going to grab a quick bath and swim in the nearby lake and that was my signal that she should take the time to go off into the bushes and... whatever. I grabbed up soap, a clean towel and some clothes.

"Do you uh... do you do this every morning?" Isana asked.

"Rain or shine," I replied shortly, eager to wash up.

For some odd an unaccountable reason she smiled widely.

"I could get to like mornings," I overheard her say as I walked off to bathe.

There was mist coming off the lake in a thin fog, like a ghost floating over the ground. I wasn't scenting anything I recognized as dangerous, but the Divine Realms were all so damn strange I didn't know what was dangerous and what wasn't until it came leaping at me trying to rip me apart and eat me. I knew one thing for certain; clothes were optional, but Zabimaru wasn't. I put him in an improvised shoulder-harness across my back and I waded in. The water was chill, but warmer than the air was, it reminded me of all the times me and the gang had gone down to the river or the pond nearby for baths in the spring and summer and early fall. The hot summer days, when we weren't scrounging for food had usually been spent in the water; it was the closest thing to "play" that we'd ever gotten growing up. Right then, after being warmed to a hot and sweaty state, the chill water felt really good.

I let my mind clear and my body relax as I tilted my head back and floated on the surface of the water. There had been a lot of things over the last week that had been new and strange to me, it wasn't just my new (mortal) body, it was this whole weird situation. I was traveling into places that, as far as I was aware of, no Soul Reaper had ever been to before, and I was doing it without the benefit of back-up from the Thirteen Court Guard Squads. I hadn't really realized how much of me subconsciously counted on their support, how much I had been reassured by the feeling that, even with all the hassles that came with being a Soul Reaper, any one of them would go to the wall for me and back me up if I asked them to. I had always thought of myself as a solitary warrior, even if I was a social creature, but it was being made painfully clear to me that I fought my best with my buddies at my side. Sure, I had the little missy to protect but it wasn't the same thing. I missed my comrades and my home, hell I even missed my captain. Sort of. A little. A _very _little. It was just so weird for me to be out on my own with no support... I hadn't felt this way since I'd been a kid. Even then, I'd had Rukia, Haru, Miki and Tomi, I'd been the leader of the gang but any of my friends would have been wiling to risk thier skins ta help me out. I wasn't so sure about Isana. She seemed nice enough but she wasn't someone I would dare ask to risk their neck for me, for a lot of reasons. The newness of the situation I found myself thrust in was more stressful on me than I'd realized at first. I had to clear my head.

I closed my eyes, letting myself float on the surface of the water and gathered up all those feelings of stress in a great big ball in my mind, I breathed in deeply held it for a heartbeat and breathed out, letting the tension dissipate. I focused my thoughts and calmed my mind, letting go of the stress little by little every time I breathed out. It was the first time since all the chaos had started that I felt completely calm and relaxed...

And that was when something wrapped around my ankle and dragged me under.

Fortunately, I pulled in a breath before my heard was yanked underneath the surface of the water, an action as instinctive as my lashing out to free myself of whatever had entrapped me. I quickly felt another tentacle try to wrap around my legs and I violently thrashed out against it. Too late, I realized that my automatic reaction had just labled me prey. The tentacle Feind sent three more of the muscled limbs my way, each of them managing to wrap around my legs. I wasn't going to waste energy or precious breath on trying to swim away, not when it had so firm a hold on me. Instead, I drew Zabimaru.

:_Howl_!: I commanded.

Even though I hadn't spoken it out loud, it was the release within my soul that mattered, and the shikai form of Zabimaru's howl-form sprang up. I let the tentacle feind pull me in. It was hard to see anything in the murk of the water, everything looked shadowy and indistinct. I'd never tried to fight any opponent like this before. I literally could not use any of my senses! The water was too cloudy with agitated bottom-soil to see anything, I couldn't hear, and my two main enhanced-senses of taste and smell (which was how I tracked people) were offline because I was holding my breath. All I had was touch and-

:_Well, duh Renji_,: I thought to myself. :_Why don't you try using your **other **sense too while yer at it_.:

I unbound my lowest chakra from the seal I'd placed around it on my own and reached out with my feelings. I could sense the feind nearby, below me and slightly off to my left, a seething mass of senseless violence and consuming hunger. I stabbed out in that direction and found myself wounded in return by a psychic blow, a sudden empathic feeling of pain and hurt hit me blindsided. My senses reeled from it even as my lungs burned with a need for air. The tentacles that held me around the legs flailed out, but failed to release me.

Fortunately for me, the tentacle-fiend and I were fighting near the surface of the lake and when it flailed it's limbs in pain I broke the surface of the water long enough to expel the rest of my breath and take another before the tentacles tightened and I was wrenched back under the water. My head was still spinning a bit from the psychic blow but I was ready to dispatch my enemy already. I centered my thoughts and raised my mental shields this time before I sent a questing thread of power out to search for the monster-beast-thing attacking me.

:_Stupid Renji,_: I berated myself as I sought out the beast waiting in the water.

Using ones spiritual power to track prey left one open to empathic spiritual attack unless precautions were made, attacking without raising my own mental defenses had been a rookie mistake.

:_Man, if the Captain had ever caught me making a mistake like that, he'd have me running bakudo drills until I dropped for a week_!:

Once I located it, I cut the thread of spiritual power and sliced out with Zabimaru once more, this time connecting with something solid. I felt a mental roar of pain bash against my spiritual sheilds and I was physically I was jerked around by the ankle as my enemy flailed its limbs in pain.

:_Not used to an enemy that can fight back are you_?: I mentally asked it in silent rhetoric.

I swung again, hoping to slice through the tentacles binding my legs so that I could get to the surface. My chest was burning and aching with the need for fresh air and I really really wished right then that Snakey was back in business, I could sure have used a long distance weapon right then. I hit something, it didn't free me unfortunately, it just seemed to make the tentacle-thing madder and it flailed harder, it's movements becoming wilder and more out of control, it even jerked me up into the air and then slapped me down hard against the surface of the water. The whole left side of my body stung and my ears rang like I'd just gotten the mother of all belly flops. I couldn't even groan in pain because I had to conserve what air I could. When I sliced at the center mass for a third time I was tossed around like a rag-doll, receiving only a breif impression of light, water, sky and darkness before I was dragged under again.

The creature pulled me in toward it's main body this time and I was waiting with my sword out. I cut the tentacles as they came at me, unwilling to be further enmeshed in its clutches before I killed it. When I sensed it was close enough to me, I dove down and stabbed straight at where I sensed to welter of emotions was at its greatest concentration. It screamed in mortal pain even as it's teeth sank into my upper thigh, right near the hip on the outside. I stabbed again, and again, and then a fourth and final time as I felt the flailing tentacles that whipped and stung me while the beast underwent its death-throes. In a small burst of dusty-motes of light floating away into no-where, the thing spored into disappearance and all was quiet. I made for the surface of the lake and was greatly relieved to take in precious gulps of air after what had felt like an eternity under water.

:_Gotta work on my lung capacity_,: I thought absently to myself as I wearily paddled back towards the shore.

I'd been dragged quite a ways out. For a little while I felt fine... but then my limbs started feeling heavy and a slow feeling of grogginess and disorientation crept up on me. I started feeling hot and really dizzy, my limbs didn't seem to want to work quite right. My toes hit the sand while I could still tell what was up and what was down, but after I crawled up halfway onto the bank I knew nothing more after that.

...

I slowly opened my eyes and waited for my vision to clear and focus. I was on my back, under a tree somewhere and there was someone nearby.

"Welcome back," a solemnly cheerful feminine voice said of to one side. Isana.

"You had me worried for a little while there. Luckily, I was able to summon Carbuncle here."

She held up a small armful of aqua-colored fur and three sets of gem-like eyes. It squeaked cutely at me and I groaned a little. The cuteness was annoying and I had a _huge _headache.

"He was able to get the poison from that tentacle-thing's bite out of you and heal you up. You'll be fine in a few minutes, it's just taking a little while for the healing to set in," she informed me.

I hadn't been aware that my kind could get poisoned... oh, wait... mortal. Poisons were a big deal for them.

Sure enough, she was right, the headache began to fade to nothing within moments after she'd mentioned it. I sat up and she passed me one of those cereal bar things that mortals ate for breakfast when they were in a hurry. They were really very tasty, even if they weren't quite what I was used to.

"There's rice and powdered miso soup too," she said. "But it's not quite done yet."

"Thanks," I rasped dryly. "How did you...?"

I gestured vaguely around, not really able to gather my thoughts into a comprehensible form right then.

"I heard all the comotion coming from the lake," she answered. "You were yelling and there was the sound of violent splashing, so I rushed over to see what was going on. Things had just gone quiet and you'd made it to shore but you were collapsed there when I got to you. I checked you for wounds and found the one on your thigh, since you're such a tough guy I figured you wouldn't be collapsed unconscious from one little bite wound-

I grunted an emphatic and disdainful agreement with that statement. Of _course _I wouldn't fall apart from such a minor injury by itself, did I look like a wimp?

"So I figured that it must be poisoned or something. Carbuncle said that he is a healer and he could take care of you, so I summoned Bruiser to drag you back to camp so I could tend you properly. I summoned Carbuncle and had him heal you."

Her first real summoning and I had missed it.

I'd never heard of such a thing as a mortal who could summon divine spirits to come to her aid before and I was curious to see how it worked.

"Thank-you," I said sincerely, not certain what else to say.

That was when I first became aware of something. In the barracks, fellow Reaper-soldiers were pretty much all one sex. Even the women, when it came time ta hit the showers, were just men with breasts. Isana Rourke, however, was not a fellow Reaper. And she'd just seen me naked.

"Don't look so dismayed," she said laughing in amusement, apparently at the look upon my very-easily-read face.

"But you-" I started, looking frantically around for something to cover up the vital area with at least. There was nothing near to hand.

She scoffed, waving a scornful hand at me

"Oh please!" she scoffed. "You don't have anything I haven't seen before. In my time I've raised a baby boy and I work in a nursing home; I've seen more bare butts, and other things, than you'd believe. When you've seen one, you've seen them all, verdad? You don't need to be embarrassed."

Embarrassed no, but I was now feeling just a little bit insulted.

I cast about for something to put on and Isana very politely, but not without a little smirk of amusement, turned her back so I could get dressed. I cleared my throat when I was finished putting the clothes on my body and tried not to feel awkward about it as I ladled out a bowl of rice from the pot and dug in.

"We'll break camp soon and get back on the road," I said, resuming business.

This wasn't a pleasure-trip after all. We were there on serious business.

"Right," she said firmly.

We ate well, not leaving much behind when we broke our camp. I got back on the trail again. The scent of incense was ever so slightly fainter than it had been the day before, it was by no means cold, but every time we stopped to replenish our body's, as a mortal shells required, was another moment that the Shadow got father away from us.

The Gateway that led onto the starpath to the next Realm had more slots on the individual wheels than any I had come across before, instead of just three slots, this one had five nodes in the circles at equidistant points on the axis. I looked up to note that Isana was writing something down in a notebook while I was readying my reiatsu to open the gate.

"Whatcha doin'?" I asked curiously.

"I've been writing the symbols that are on the gateways to the different worlds as we've been going along. It seemed like a good idea, just in case we get lost and can't find our way back," she said.

"That's real smart!" I congratulated her, a little chagrinned I hadn't thought of doing it myself.

I relied a lot on my tracking ability to tell me where I was and where I had been as well as where I was going. She just smiled wryly back at me and I half expected her to say something that Rukia would have about her being the brains of this outfit and they'd all be lost without her, but Isana said nothing, just smiled.

We got moving onto the next world, which looked like a vast desert oddly pocked with perfectly round craters at irregular intervals with three suns blazing in the middle of the sky. The smell of sulpher and ozone choked the air, nearly overwhealming the scent of incense. The problem with a sense of smell was that if one had too many strong odors all at once it could be easily overwhealmed and go dead. Lucky enough, my "Scenting" ability tracked not just the physical scent but the spirit scent as well and I dragged a mouthful of air across my tongue, tasting it.

"That way," I pointed slightly to the left. We started walking.

It was hot. True, it was a very dry heat, but it _still _seemed to press down on us like a palpable weight. Unlike in Hueco Mundo, which had been a moon-lit desert, this place was directly in the sun, seemingly all the time.

"Kyaaaa!" Isana cried out in fright as one of the strange craters in the ground before us made a shush-shush-ing sound and suddenly errupted into a geyser of flame. I pulled her behind me and had Zabimaru out at the ready, a good thing too, because out of those flames a small cluster of four-foot-high little critters made all out of fire erupted.

They didn't have the same powerful sense of majesty that fire-bird had emitted. In fact if I were going to put out a real-life comparison I'd compare it to one of my noobs being placed next to Captain Yamamoto, one was a grain of pebble and the other a mountain of jade.

"Howl," I said, shrugging my shoulders and diving in.

I'd never fought an enemy that was made entirely of flame before. It was more a game of dodge and slice as I tried to stay out of the way of their fire-ball attacks while landing my own hits in. The first two went down kind of quickly based mostly on surprise that I was attacking _at all_, the remaining three immediately became more cautious. The fight began in earnest as they worked in tandem to try to surround me and fire on me from all directions at once. It became an interesting game of dodge and chase.

:_If I get stuck in many more battles like this_,: I thought as I flash-stepped to the left then back to the right then took a running leap into the air to try to come down on top of one, missed, and had to quickly flash-step back to one side to avoid an attack by the firelings other fireling ally.

:_I'm going to be as practiced as the Captain at this flash-step thing_.:

An exaggeration I was sure, not even in my wildest could I boast to be anywhere near his level when it came to the flashstep, but still, battles like these were good for practice. I'd meant to work on my speed anyway.

The flames flickered and flitted here and there and I managed to snuff them out like candles by setting a freeze-trap for one of them, slicing open another, and the third finally fell to my blade after a drawn-out game of chase and evade. By this point I was sweaty and panting with small burns decorating my body. Still, I'd won and it had been sort of diverting.

"Here, let me get those," Isana said as I paced back to her side to get on with our mission.

I blinked at her in surprise as she held her hands above one of the particularly nasty burns on my fore-arm where I'd blocked an attack that had nearly managed to land and the heated metal of zabimaru had accidentally scalded my skin. It was raising in a weal that was dark red and quite painful.

"Green life, healing light..." she chanted, holding her hands in a cupping motion over the wound.

A strange diagram in greenish-white light made of circles and lines and strange sigils wrote itself in the air between her palms. My wound began to rapidly stitch itself closed and the throbbing pain of the burn faded as the wound pinkened and disappeared. She moved onto the next and the next after that. Within moments I was completely healed.

"Hey, thanks Isana," I said, surprised.

Last I'd known she was just an ordinary mortal, where had she learned to heal? Granted, I'd never seen any of the Healers back at Fourth do anything like what she'd done with the finny diagram but I wasn't a Ki-dope so what did I know?

"Where'd ja learn ta heal like that?" I asked next as the diagram disappeared and she looked at me with the cheerful light of confidence in her eyes.

"Carbuncle taught me!" she said happily. "While I was asleep."

I frowned at her in puzzlement.

"Apparently, when a Divine Spirit makes a contract with a Mortal, they can teach that mortal any of the skills it possesses that the mortal is capable of learning," she said. "I would still have to summon Carbuncle if I needed to perform a major healing or use it on the battlefield to boost my performance or someone else's, but other than that... I can heal most common injuries, so if you get hurt Mister Abarai, please don't hesitate to call on me!"

She looked so happy about it, and I kinda got the feeling she was relieved too. I couldn't blame her, she'd forced herself to come along on this mission, and even though she's carrying all of the supplies, I think she knows deep down that I don't really need all that stuff and would be moving more quickly without her. She probably felt up until now that she was slowing me down because I had to move at her pace and I was always spending time having to protect her from monsters. No person with a spine ever wanted to feel like they were a burden. It probably did come as a relief to feel like there was something she could do that was useful besides cook and take directions.

"Alright," I smiled down at her. "I will."

We started back down the path across the relentless sulpheric heat of the desert. This place sucked. I hated the desert. The wind was all mixed up with dust that stuck to yer skin when ya sweated and ya got rivulets o' mud running down yer chest an' back, and then not only that but ya got sand in places where sand had no business being!

"I hope it went through that gate up ahead," Isana muttered, spying at last a gate platform.

We were both practically panting in the heat. The relentless concentration of the suns on our backs was so distracting that we didn't even realize that we were in a gigantic geyser-crater until we heard that omminous shushing sound and the ground below our feet started to tremble.

"Ummm... I don't like this," she said uneasily as the slight tremors gradually grew to full-on shakes.

I flexed my knees and widened my stance to keep my balance and was forced to lift Isana onto one shoulder to prevent her from stumbling to the ground. There was an enormous burst of flame in front of us that pushed outward and then spiraled in on itself to fade into a quasi-man-like shape. The creature was easily three times my size with room to spare, it looked like someone had crossed a lizard with a bull and painted the features on over a man's form. The thing had furred reverse-haunch legs with hooves that sparked like live coals when it moved but from the waist up the fur faded to tough scaley hide. The snout of the beast had flame flickering out of the end of it, and it was long with sharp fangs protruding from the mouth. It's face looked like a cross between a cat and a dragon, with two brightly flaming eyes burning with a lambent glow. Two massive forelimbs that looked like they could pick up and throw buildings whole. It had a great mane going down the sides and back of its neck made of flame.

"None shall pass," it said in a booming basso.

Isana and I exchanged a long speaking look and before I could stop her she stepped forward.

"We need to pass good sir," she insisted. "Renji and I have to reach that gate that's there behind you. You see my son-"

"None shall pass," the flame-beast stated flatly, clearly not interested in hearing her story.

"But, my son-" she tried again.

The beast promptly shut her up by letting out a great basso roar that made the ground around us tremble and nearly shattered my eardrums.

Fine. So I guess he wasn't so interested in listening to words. I'd be more than happy to let my sword do my talking for me.

I stepped up and pushed the little lady back behind me before she could waste her breath on another attempt, and signaled that she should back off a ways, I anticipated a good fight.

"Well, if yer not gonna be polite about it, I guess I'll just have ta make a path... right through you!"

* * *

**And ready...fight! Ding ding!**


	40. The Baboon King's New Groove

I drew Zabimaru with an enthusiastic

"Howl! Zabimaru!"

The great double-sided hourglass-shaped blade with the diamond-shaped head and the intricate hilt materialized in my hand as I leapt into the fray.

The fire-beast met my enthusiasm with some of his own and roared a great stream of fire, sort of like someone had let loose with a fire-hose (only it was water instead of fire) in a line straight at me to intercept my charge.

:_Of **course **he would be able to breathe flame_!: I thought to myself as I brought the flat of Zabimaru around to block the worst of the gout of fire even as I nipped around to avoid the rest.

I returned the favor by flash-stepping in for a swing at him which he blocked with one of his massive forelimbs. So then, not only did he breathe fore but parts of his body were covered in a hardened shell as well. This was going to be interesting. His reply to my sally was to belch another spiraling sideways pillar of flame at me. I shielded again with Zabimaru and swung at him, landing a nice slice into his side, at the point just before the segmented carapace that protected his ribcage started up. He roared with pain and angrily shot another flame at me. I dodged back and he kept trying, herding me this way and that with firey breaths until I was too far away to attack up close easily.

It started to occur to me that this was not the sort of enemy I wanted to fight at close range.

:_Hey, Zabimaru, is Snakey up fer a battle yet_?: I asked him.

::**_He is not yet recovered_**,:: Zabimaru reported to me. ::**_However, that is of no moment_**.::

::_Well the long-range fighting abilities would sure come in handy right now_!:: I snapped back as I dodged flame after flame shot my way without managing to land a single scratch on him.

::**_You have them_**,:: Zabimaru said. ::**_Unbind your chakra and release your power_**.::

"..." I said eloquently.

I paused for a split second and did as he commanded. After re-binding my chakra behind restraints by myself I had discovered that I was more comfortable with them that way, it didn't feel like I was about to burst from out of my skin, like an overripe berry being squeezed, at a touch. But keeping the bindings in place all by myself (Zabimaru refused point blanck to help me out by doing it for me anymore) was a little weird at first, there would be times when I wasn't paying attention and I felt them slip and I'd have to pause from what I was doing and shore them back up. All in all, I was more comfortable with the majority of my power safely put away where it couldn't inadvertantly hurt someone. Unbinding my chakra felt a little like releasing a muscle that's been tightened for a really long time, like if you'd curled your hand into a loose fist for hours on end and then suddenly straightened your fingers.

I kept the chackra at my lowest setting about halfway open for normal use so i slid that one open all the way then turned to the next chackra, the orange one, mentally turning the spiritual lock and releasing the sluice gate to flood my body with power. Too late I realized that I should have been a little more careful when I released the power from its bindings. Far from being natural and easy when it was loosed, the power of my reiatsu crashed into me in a wave, feeling like mudslide coming down a mountain and carrying away everything in its path. Even at the best of times my spiritual power had always been difficult to manage, it was contrary, pernicious and inclined to pull and pop and struggle when I tried to get it to form the pattern of a reiatsu spell. And that was only just when I had the minimal amount that Zabimaru had deemed safe for me to handle unleashed. Throwing wide the sluice gate and letting two full chakra's worth of completely uninhibited reiatsu loose all of a sudden, without any attempt to control it before hand, had not been one of my brighter moves... I realized that fact a moment later as my chest tightened and my muscles constricted from the painful feeling of being hit with that rush of power.

It felt like my soul was trying to push out of my skins. Now I knew how a water-baloon felt when Jinta filled it up at the sink in Urahara's place.

:_It feels like I'm gonna explode_,: I gasped inside my mind, my chest heaving.

My unharnessed reiatsu pushed at the bounds of my mortal shell. An image of a water-balloon being filled was an adequate description. Unless that power was channeled and controlled I was going to burst outward from the massive pressure.

::**_Pull in your power and channel it through your meridians_**!:: Zabimaru snapped at me, mentally slapping me into focus.

It felt like I was a man who was not a very good swimmer, suddenly being tossed into the ocean in the middle of a storm. My head was ducked under the water and I was flailing my limbs uselessly, trying to find purchase enough to take my bearings and gain control. I had begun to panic. I couldn't breathe and the power was so dizzyingly intoxicating that I wasn't sure which way was up, literally, I could not tell up from down!

::**_Focus_**!::

I groggily pushed my mind through the grounding exercises I'd leaned in the Soul Reaper Academy decades ago, managing to push myself far enough, mentally, from the sloshing swirling pulling power that so overwhelmed me that I was able to gain a little control over myself. I utterly had _not _been expecting that. I thought about asking Zabimaru why, if I had gone though all the trouble of clearing and unlocking my chakra, was my reiatsu still as pernicious as ever? It would have to wait though.

I breathed out once and stretched out my will to encircle the river that was now expanding out to try to fill every part of me. With a great mental heave of effort, I pulled in all the sides of the power, forcing it to center in. It fought. My reiatsu was persnikety by nature and, like me, it didn't like being told what to do. It popped on one side and shoved on the other, like trying to herd cats, all of it wanted to go its own way. I reigned it in by will alone and started spiraling it through my body's meridians. It struggled every bit of the way and I wrestled with it. It felt like it took an eternity for me to get most of it spiraling through my meridians into a semblance of order, once it was traveling through my bodies channels it was easier to control because there was no place else for it to go and it had a place to go, instead of just collecting in a pool and trying to burst outward.

::**_Now concentrate it so we can use it_**,:: Zabimaru prompted me.

I gathered my power, pulling it in and condensing it until it became a flaming blue-white star of super-concentrated energy. I hadn't noticed it at first, having been so intensely focused on what was going on inside of me to the exclusion ove everything else, but a small wind from the release of some of that power I kept sealed away inside kicked up around me in a soft breeze laced with spiritual power. In that strange way of knowing without really being sure how one knew what to do that existed on the level of instinct between Zanpaktou and their wielders, the power I had gathered together I pushed down my meridians and into the blade of Zabimaru.

The elegant blade glowed with a powerful luminescence; star-white in the center along the tang of the blade fading to a softer blue-white along the razor edges. Instinctively I gathered together another orb of power, the soft breeze of gathering energy around me kicking into a stiff wind, and pushed that down the length of my blade through the channel at the center, where it gathered at the tip in a firey ball of brilliant blue-white luminance surrounded by a paler haloed orb that looked like glass made of light. Jags and darts of lighting crawled over the surface of the halo around the tip of Zabimaru, weaving and and undulating in unpredictable patterns, occasionally fizzling off into blue-white sparks. I turned to face my opponent.

"Denkou...Hou!" (Lightning Cannon) I cried, slashing the around to one side then curving it up and bringing it down sharply, releasing all the energy pent up at the end at my enemy. The orb of pure power shot at him like a cannonball, hitting him square in the chest where it flared out in a brilliant white flash of light. I felt a little bit weak when I separated the power from myself and attacked with it, but all in all, even after the enormous amount of power I'd spent in the attack, it was barely a fraction of what I had to call and I still felt more than ready to go.

The fire spirit slumped back, clearly affected by the strike, and roared with pain. Before he could recover, I took advantage of the fact that he was clearly off-guard and flashed in to attack. I scored two hits on either of his massive forelimbs before he shot another flash of flame at me. I darted back shielding with the flat of Zabimaru (when the blade was active with spiritual power the diamond-fire along the edges could flare out at will to form a better shield, I discovered) and waited for my next opportunity.

The fire-spirit was clearly hurting from my attack, and had apparently decided, that since I'd moved the battlefield from low-level attacks alone, that it was time he unleashed some of his own powerful moves. He roared up into the air once, bringing his arms back and then punching his fists together in the air before him. Pulling his fists back a little bit an orb of pure live flame gathered in the air between his hands. He roared again and the flame grew until it was twice as big as I was. He shot another gout of flame out of his mouth at it and the massive globe of fire flew up into the air and the enormous behemoth launched himself straight up after it, crouched and turned in the air and slammed his massive paws into the fire ball knocking it right down at me. I hastily shot power down the length of my blade and pulled the flat of it in front of me as a shield to block out the worst of it, flaring out the power along the edges to protect me fully.

The air turned red and hot, I closed my eyes and held my breath, preying that I didn't get immolated. The attack was a once-off, so as soon as it faded that was it, it was done. I just had to endure until then. It seemed to take an eternity. I felt some of my clothes crisp away in the hot wind.

Even as the inferno curled around either side of me, I gathered in for another attack, pulling in three times as much as I had for the first attack I'd made. Zabimaru had something else he wanted to show me. Following his silent mental instructions, I pushed about a third of that power I had gathered into another halo-orb around the tip and the rest I separated out into six smaller balls of lightning-kissed luminance circling around me in a ring. The orbs looked sort of like those plasma-globes I'd seen in the human world, there was a ball-shaped fairy-light of raw liquid energy in the very center with sharp little jags of blue-white energy crackling out n snake-like tendrils, seething and just beneath the surface glass-like outer shell of power.

Once the fire-globe that the beast had sent at me had spent itself, I straightened from where I had crouched behind Zabimaru as a shield and brought the brilliantly gleaming tip before me. I flared out one final burst of power, feeding it into the lighting seeds circling lazily around me in a ring before I brought Zabimaru out and around in a slashing motion.

"Raikou Enjin!" (Lightning Ring)

The six orbs of lightning-power that had surrounded me, circling lazily in the air, flew forward in a ring to surround my enemy on all sides, slightly reminiscent of the Higa Zekkou that Snaketail was capable of, though this one did not seem to take Zabimaru out of commission for any amount of time). I sent a pulse into my sword and the orbs attacked the beast from all sides, landing hit after hit on him, causing him to stagger first to one side and then to the other as they came at him relentlessly. As a final coup de grace I brought Zabimaru, with the main orb of light still sparkling at the diamond headed tip of the blade, before me and slashed downwards. Lighting and power concentrated into a single crackling ring blasted at him, tearing up the ground a little by the ferocity of its attack. It hit him square in the chest, knocking him back; actually, sending him flying back on his ass.

The give the asshole credit though, he was down, but he wasn't out. He opened his mouth as if to gather in another breath to breathe flame at me, but this time instead another fireball formed in front of his snout, concentrated there, and _that's_ when he breathed another gout of flame at me. It was a little bit different in that it was a concentrated burst this time. A huge meteorite of fire shot at me and when I flash-stepped aside to avoid it, it blew up the ground in a good-sized crater where I had just been standing.

:_Somebody's decided ta take the gloves off_,: I thought.

I hastily gathered another round of power and shot it down Zabimaru, slashing to intercept. The two attacks met in midair and there was an explosion of fire and lighting that made me stagger. Small sparks of fire shot out like shrapnel from a landmine in 'nam, and I didn't move quickly enough to avoid them. Some of them landed some pretty good hits on me, and did they ever burn like hell. I had to finish this guy off already.

I knew, in that way of Zanpaktou's and their wielders, that there was a greater attack that I was capable of but I needed a little time to prepare. I quickly gathered in and formed another omni-directional attack and sent it flying at him to distract him while I gathered in for my _real _attack.

"Raikou Enjin!" I cried, as I sent another omni-directional attack at him to hit him from all sides. Then I gathered in and sent another, followed by a third. It ate at the reiatsu, firing them off in rapid succession like that, but all in all, I was _still _good to go. My enemy however was staggering from the brunt of the successful attacks hitting him from all sides. While he was staggered, I would prepare.

I unlocked the seal on my third chakra. Having learned from my first experiment in unleashing my power without any thought, I released the sluice gate on that Chakra, slowly and carefully, channeling all the reiatsu from that chakra directly into my meridians without letting it have a chance to swamp me and overwhelm my body. The reiatsu from this one felt... thicker somehow, more substantial than the first two chakra had, it was like the power had a greater concentration to it than the other two. It was a heady sensation, almost like being drunk, as raw primal energy flowed through me, gathering in to my will. It was dizzying and exhilarating at the same time and it sort of made me want to laugh drunkenly at nothing at all but the pure joy and exhilaration I felt.

I also felt the air around me saturate with power, thick as pea soup and tasting heavily of ozone. Adding more reiatsu into the mix had upped the ante. The sourceless that had only been a breeze before was now suddenly a hurricane of golden-white light. I flared my power out into it, feeding it and making it grow ever larger. It felt a bit like pushing my hand into a still pool of water and swirling it around faster and faster to make a bigger and more powerful water-funnel. Powerful bolts of lighting wove into the misty golden-white energy of raw power that made the clouds of the maelstrom scream around me, as the wind tugged at my hair and clothes and then began in a spiral up into the sky, creating a great swirling tower of light. I almost felt like laughing, so wonderful and powerful it made me feel, spiraling around me.

With a mental command I sent the hurricane of power straight over at my enemy, the winds and lightnings crawling over him and picking him up off the ground as though he was nothing more helpless than a toy. He hung, suspended in mid-air in the center of the maelstrom as I gathered power at the end of my sword. A massive frothing knot of lighting bolts curled around each other into a ball. The orb of power grew and grew as I poured more and more reiatsu into it while my enemy hung helplessly suspended in the air in the eye of the storm.

"Hikari Senpuu Higyou!" (light whirlwind strike) I cried, my throat feeling raw and hoarse from the power stuck heavy on the back of my tongue.

The power at the end of my sword blazed at him in blinding a tail of sparks and little shoots of lightning trailing behind it like a comet as it tore up through the air over the center of the top of the whirlwind where it stopped. I could feel a nudge from Zabimaru and so I fed a final burst of power into my blade. The orb at the top of the whirlwind pulsed outward once, then gathered in on itself, turning a brilliant white too bright to look at. Then it blasted downwards through the center of the whirlwind in a pillar of pure white molten power. The air turned white and I shielded my eyes. I felt it in my bones when the bolt struck the ground, the whole world shook with the blast as the sky flashed white-gold too brilliant to look at.

"Renji-i-i!" Isana called in panic.

I looked back up just in time to see a ring of light, like the crest of a wave, shooting out from the bottom of the dissipating whirlwind in all directions... including straight at us. I reversed my grip on Zabimaru and thrust him point down into the ground, and beckoned that Isana should get over here now. I wasted no time and we both crouched in the shadow of Zabimaru. With one hand around his hilt, flaring my reiatsu out around the edges in a shield, and the other hand around the woman to keep her from flying off, I hunched my back against the worst of the blast, the girl protected in a hollow created by my body. When the shockwave hit it was like a thump through my chest, all around me was howl and light. A moment later, it was gone. We peeked up. The place had been a crater already, but now it was about ten times bigger. In the bottom of that crater slumped the barely conscious form of the fire spirit.

"Jesus, Maria and Jhoseph," Isana said, crossing herself. Her accent got stronger when she was upset, I noted. "What in the hell was that?"

A wide, fierce grin split open my face. It looked like I had me a new bag of tricks. An' I knew just who I couldn't wait to try them out on.

:_Let's see him keep that smug little aristocratic smirk on his face after **that **one_!: I thought in anticipation.

I rose from my crouch and walked over to the fire-beast, setting the point of Zabimaru down beside his throat, wordlessly demanding that he surrender.

"I yeild me, Mortal Warrior," the fire beast gasped out in a deep growling voice.

I took the point of Zabimaru away from his throat and before I turned back, the fire-beast rose to his knees, resting much of his weight on his tree-trunk forelimbs.

"From this point forward my strength belongs to your mistress."

I really wished people would stop calling her that, it was bad enough she'd slapped a binding spell on me, it made it just that much worse that it seemed like everyone could tell and insisted on naming her the master of me. Ta tell the truth it kinda pissed me off a little.

"I accept your allegiance," Isana said solemnly.

One of the charms on her bracelet glowed brilliant orange white and began to expand until it was full-sized, a three-quarter length staff that flickered with flames in her hand. Another of those intricate multiple rings with designs and glyphs on them glowed on the ground beneath her feet with her in the center of it and a small wind kicked up as she twirled her staff in elaborate patters while her power gathered in a small nimbus of flame before her. She paused as the pattern at her feet finished drawing itself, then drew a circle in the air that hung there in a ring of fire.

The beast looked once at Isana, bowed deeply, and stepped into the ring, disappearing as it closed up behind him. Then everything went back to normal, or at least as normal as things ever got in this place. She slumped down a bit, clearly feeling a little exhausted, then firmed her legs and smiled wearily up at me.

"Here, let's get those burns of yours taken care of."

I stared a little at her in surprise. She just walked right up to me and summoned up her healing circle.

"I... uh... thank-you," I managed at last as my wounds began stitching up under the light of her green sigil-circle.

"De nada," she assured me. "After all, you were the one who got hurt protecting me, the least I can do is heal you up afterward."

After that, we were on the road again.

* * *

**So there it is at last, we got to see Zabimaru's special attacks! Pretty cool huh? Was it worth the wait? Thanks again to all those who have read and reveiwed and I hope you look forward to the next chapter.**


	41. Inhabited

"... and so he'd upended the whole bowl of flour on his head," she enthused as if she were telling the most amusing thing in the world.

Of course, to her it probably would be. There was a saying in the mortal realm, one of the fringe benefits of parenthood was having found a whole new way to bore people.

"There was mess and stuff everywhere! And there he was right in the middle of it, just laughing his bald little head off. I think he thought it was Christmas or something."

She'd just finished telling yet _another _story about her son. She'd been regaling me with them for the last three worlds. Apparently she'd decided that we'd known each other long enough that we were friends. After the third baby story I'd started wishing that she still saw me as this intimidating warrior guy that she had bound like a tiger by the tail. She'd at least been a lot quieter.

:_I guess some of her stories are kinda funny though_,: I thought.

It was a world I hadn't been a part of for longer than I could remember. I knew that I _must've_ had a family, or somethin' like one, once, otherwise I wouldn't have been alive in the mortal world. The closest thing I'd ever had to family had been Rukia and the gang... and _that _hadn't turned out so well. I wondered, just a little, what it was like to be part of a normal family. All the Rukon kids who don't remember their old lives secretly wished they could, though no-one ever speaks about it because it's just too private and too painful. Had there been anyone who'd grieved when I'd disappeared, had anyone looked for me? I couldn't imagine it, anyone trying as hard to find me as Isana was trying ta find her own little boy, and a small secret part of me felt envious of this kid I hadn't met who had someone who cared about him enough to brave unknown dangers in uncertain company to bring him home safe.

"So what's it like being a grim reaper? I mean, you aren't exactly what I was expecting when I pictured Death," she chattered on.

"I get that a lot," I answered truthfully. "Seems a lot of mortals have this image of a skull in a dark cloak with a scythe, but really those are just symbols. The dark cloak represents the Great Mystery, the skeleton all that remains behind in the mortal realm, and the scythe well... that's obvious, it's for reaping. But anyway, yeah... I guess it's a job. I like it personally, I get ta fight Hollows, which is always good fun fer me. The paperwork's a pain in the butt, but it's better than starving on the streets."

"Starve?" she questioned. "But aren't you... y'know, _dead_, verdad? How can you starve if you are not living?"

II know it sounds a little strange, but the soul can starve for things when yer dead as easily as the body can when yer alive."

I decided against telling her about the Rukon District and the Seireitei, why disillusion her? The living always seemed to be looking forward to seeing what happened after death, many of them devoted their whole lives to what lay beyond the other side. To those of us for whom the Great Mystery was no mystery at all, their actions made little to no sense; don't eat meat on certain days (or don't eat certain kinds of meat), believe this and not that, follow this book and not that one... what did it matter? As long as you didn't do the kinds of things to other people that created Hollows then chances were that the hellgate wouldn't open for you.

:_I guess it'd give away the game if we told them all though_,: I reflected to myself.

Isana started up another story about the sort of mischief her little boy got into and I listened with half an ear as we scrambled up and over the rough rocky terrain of this world. The world we'd landed in after our fight with Djinn (unfortunately it was not the kind the granted wishes, instead, it seemed to be a variety of ifrit that relied on fire) was as abandoned as the others. This one had a very rocky terrain, boulders piled atop boulders with scraggly little trees growing in the crevices between them. There was a tiny little river cutting its way through the crannies of the place. We were following the little river far below since one, it was easier, and two, it seemed to be the path marker that the Shadow was using as well.

I was currently carrying Isana on my back as I flash-leaped from boulder to boulder, trying to stay as much on the direct trail of the Shadow as possible. We'd been on the road for three days now and had camped out in the strange Realms in the Dangai twice so far. Each time Miss Isana had insisted on certain (in my opinion time-wasting) amenities such as setting up her tent to sleep in and the inflating-mat thing so that her delicate self would not be forced to sleep on the hard cold ground. I had no such troubles certainly, since it hadn't rained in any of the worlds we'd stayed on yet I'd simply put my back to a nearby tree or rock near the fire to rest against, laid Zabimaru against my shoulder, draped a blanket around me and slept relatively soundly. Last night my sleep had been interrupted twice by encroaching hostiles but Zabimaru and I had taken care of them quickly. I had ta say that the Denkou Hou sure came in handy for frying enemies without having ta get up and slice them in half. Just point and shoot.

Traveling the young mortal woman her somewhat difficult sometimes, I had to carry her around a lot because she was only a mortal woman and could not do any of the warriors tricks that I knew, such as flash-step or even glide-step. She wasn't in even _that _great a shape, I mean, she was healthy enough I suppose, but she couldn't keep up a jog for any length of time so I wound up putting her on my back as I sprinted across the flat terrains of the worlds we crossed where the trail was clear and there was no sign of threat. It was no worse in the Academy days where they had made us sprint for miles with thirty to forty pound weights on our backs to build muscle and endurance. If we got into rough terrain (like the one we were in now) that involved climbing around on hard surfaces I carried her then too, otherwise we'd just be all day at it. My mortal gigai was heavier than I liked so I had to use more reiastu than usual to move the way I was used to but I kept it going.

:_I've gone from proud Lieutenant of the Sixth Squad to Mortal Woman's Beast of Burden in under a week_,: I grumbled to myself.

There was no-way that I was ever going to admit that, since I was so far from anything that looked like home and cut off from all my friends and support, I was feeling just a little bit glad of the company... even is she was annoying and mortal and wouldn't shut up about her kid.

I sensed the humming energy of a recently activated gate nearby and was unsurprised when the direction of the scent-trail changed subtly. I wondered, not for the first time, how much farther I was behind the Shadow I was chasing down. Several days it had to be, there had been more detours than made me happy already.

"Eeep!" Isana squealed as I took a particularly long leap through the air across the stream-cut gorge in front of us and landed a little hard on the other side. She slipped a little bit in her grip around my shoulders and scrambled to keep a tighter hold though she was in no real danger of falling off.

"Next time warn me when you're going to do that!" She berated me, thwacking me across the back of the head with a hand she freed from its death grip around my neck for the purpose.

"What?" I asked blankly.

"You just suddenly jumped and... we were airborne. I was terrified!"

I looked down the nearly sheer drop off that tapered down into a very sharp valley with its tiny little stream trickling down in the bottom of it and then back over to the other side about ten or twenty feet away from where I had taken a simple standing reiatsu-fuels flash-leap across and I supposed I could sort of see her point. It was a long way down and a normal human wasn't used to the sorts of feats that a Soul Reaper like me took for granted. Looking down through the empty air at what must have looked to her like certain death had probably not been very fun for her.

"Sorry," I said lamely even as I rolled the thin cold air over my tongue to pick the trail back up.

There were no leaps that were nearly as dramatic as that one and once we reached what seemed to be the tops of the cliffs and they leveled out a bit (relatively anyway) I started sprinting along in a ground-covering lope to get us to the platform I could see in the distance that seemed to be our destination.

I followed the scent trail up to yet another gate platform. As a matter of expediency I'd taken to just carrying her piggy back over the starpaths between worlds so that we could cross quickly, I did not know for certain if the paths that crisscrossed the Dangai were anything like the tunnel that led to the Soul Society with its watchers and the Cleaners so in my book it was far better safe than sorry.

I pushed an orb of my reiatsu at the quiescent Gate node and the gate silvered over in a glowing liquid silver that irised open onto the shimmering white starpath. As soon as the gateway stabilized I flashed into it, quickly speeding along it and emerging on the other side.

"Whoa!" Isana said, immediately throwing her arms up over her head in a semi-panicked gesture. "We come in peace!"

:_Hn. This one's got people in it_,: I thought to myself as I took in the sight.

All the other worlds we'd been through had been uninhabited by anything other than feral little spirit critters that I'd cheerfully been fighting my way through and the occasional Guardian Spirit that seemed to have been left behind to keep an eye on things, unless of course you counted the Court of Genbu and the (former) Katschei's Realm. None of the Realms we'd visited had had what definitely looked like people in it though, I mean, their features were...

:_Actually, now that I look closer at 'em, they don't look **Human**_,: I thought.

Their features were universally slim and sleek, their cheekbones all high, their eyes slightly slanted, their faces pale as marble, chins and features both smooth and sharp-angled with a slightly feline cast to their faces, their hair all blonde as spun sunlight, and they had pointed ears. They also all had weapons pointed directly at us. Some wore elaborate suits of armor with straight swords drawn and held at the ready, others had arrows on silver-chased bows nocked and partly drawn pointed our way and there was something in the quiet of their stance and demeanor that said that they wouldn't have any troubles with hitting at least one of us.

Time for some diplomacy. Trying to look as nonthreatening as I could, I very gingerly set Isana on her feet and pushed her behind me. I was her protector after all. They watched our movements through narrowed eyes, not moving a hair or twitching a single muscle but watching us as intently as any cat had ever watched a mousehole.

"I'm Renji Abarai, Lieutenent of the Sixth Division of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads of the Court of Pure Souls," I said straightening to meet their gazes straightforwardly. "I don't mean any of you or yours harm, myself and this mortal woman here just want to cross this realm. We're tracking a Shadow, one that stole her child away from her and I turned me... as you see me."

They didn't move, didn't relax, didn't breathe a word of sound but all the same they seemed to confer with each other somehow. Even my sharp senses didn't pick up a flicker of movement but, as easily as my Captain had ever moved, several of the pointy-eared warriors moved out of the way in front of us. Just like my boss coming out of flash-step, two more of the pointy-eared people suddenly appeared out of the thin air before me. All of the other people guarding the gate when I'd stepped across it had been wearing armor of one form or another but not these, these wore elaborately cut clothes of silk it was difficult for me to tell exactly which were the males and which were the females, for they were, of a race, both either efeminately masculine or maculinely feminine. The two before me were clearly civilians of one form or another, their clothes were many layers f what looked like a delicate sort of silk in a cut that looked like nothing I'd ever seen before.

"Mortals," one said in a bemused, world weary tone that somehow managed to sound strangely musical as well.

"It has been many many years since we have had mortals in our Realm," the other one, I thought this one might just be a her, said in a conversational tone.

"Our Lord has commanded that you shall be brought before him," the other said, bowing politely at me.

"We'd love to visit and chat," Isana said, giving them her brightest diplomatic smile. "But we're in a hurry, so if you don't mind we'll just take a raincheck. We've gotta get tracking this Shadow, we're days behind already. So we'll just be going now."

She tried to step around me and through the crowd. They didn't move but suddenly somehow the air was filled with a feeling of threat. I pulled on Isana's shoulder and put her back behind me.

"You heard the woman," I said firmly. I was always ready for a good fight, but we were sort of in a hurry. "We're in a hurry so..."

"A Shadow has trespassed on our Realm without proper permission," one of the civilian pointy-eared people said to the other.

"They grow bold in recent years," the other noted.

"Shall we request of our lords that the mortals be allowed to track it?"

"It seems boring, and we have visitors so seldom. It really would be unfortunate to let them pass without some recompense. It has been so long since we have had a mortal to make sport with. No, I do not believe our Lord would make an exception so easily."

So basically, we were going, whether we wanted to or not.

"Renji," Isana said, drawing in closer to me as the warriors mysteriously closed in around us in an escort formation.

It was weird I hadn't seen them move, they were just simply there, looking lie they had always been there and for a moment my mind played tricks with me, making me wonder if I hadn't just imagined them someplace else. It was like a cross between my boss flash and my former Boss Aizen's mind warping abilities. They'd probably be fun ta fight if it came down to that, for now we'd play the diplomatic card.

"Looks like we've got no choice, play along for now," I grumbled.

* * *

**Get ready for mostly useless filler arc. The next two or three chapters will be nearly completely pointless, but fun, I promise. Anyways, as usual please read and reveiw and I hope you enjoy.**


	42. Parley

Isana squeezed in closer to me for support and protection as we were escorted by a phalanx of exotically dressed people with pointy ears through a thick, deep and peaceful wood. There was something about the place, an all pervading sense of calm and tranquility that seemed to permeate the air like a fog. The canopy of leaves over our heads was a green so vivid that it was almost surreal. There were motes of sparking dust that caught the sunlight that shone though in shafts and turned the air a liquid honey-gold. The floor of the forest to either side was thick and quiet with moist earth, fallen leaves and the occasional moss-covered rock jutting up here and there. There were also flowers growing on vines strung almost artistically through the branches of the trees and growing in thick clumps along the ground that were so bright they seemed to glow... that might have been just a trick of the light, or it might not have. The air was filled with the scents of forest overlaid by the exotic-sweet smell of those flowers. Even some of the trees here and there looked a little bit like giant flowers, but I must have been imagining that part.

The otherworldly people guiding and escorting us didn't make a single sound or cause even the barest ripple of movement in the greenery around us, but I could sense them all around us, their strange reiatsus flickering along my skin and their scents borne on the light breeze that whispered through the trees. Our escorts seemed to glide over the ground, not a leaf stirred or a bush rustled as they passed. It was strange to watch and I felt positively gangly next to them. I tried to remind myself that they were probably centuries older than I was and like Byakuya Kuchiki, they probably had a lot of experience in making other people feel unconsciously inferior to them.

Neither of us even noticed the city until we were almost inside of it. One moment we were walking along an ordinary woodland trail next to a valley with a stream in the bottom of it and a tumble of boulders with piles of greenery and then when we looked up again the boulders and shrubs had turned to houses and the gravel-filled tiny stream-beds for what would ordinarily have been dried-up snowmelt run-off had turned to pathways leading from abode to abode. Well, I guessed they were houses anyway, they weren't like anything I had ever seen or thought of as a house, they still looked like they were part of the surroundings, but it was like looking at something sideways, there were windows and doors cleverly hidden in them now, relying upon light and shadow and optical illusion to hide them. Strange place, this.

We were led down through what I thought might be the center of the town or village or city... hard to tell how big or small it was when so much of it looked like it was part of the rest of the forest. We followed the stream down to the tumble of boulders and discovered once we looked twice at it that the boulders were really a very large sort of house, led round to the side, we crossed what looked like a ring of mushrooms and were brought before a large glen in the woods. The air was thick and heavy with the scent of power and a strange magic.

:_Whoever or whatever built this Realm is nearby_,: I thought.

Isana seemed to sense it too somehow, it was hard to ignore it was a pressure on the skin a thick feeling like warm fog.

Our escort suddenly stopped and as one, knelt down on one knee and bowed their heads. Isana and I exchanged a look, wondering what they were bowing at, when between one blink and the next two matching thrones appeared on a natural dais of flat rock before us. They looked like two natural chairs had grown up out of the ground, like a tree stump had had vines of pure gold that sparkled in the sunlight weave into a comfortable seat around them, but instead of being wood and leaf the plants were made of gold and studded with gem-encrusted flowers that sparkled like stars in the sky (only more brightly) that still managed to look so real I could reach out an' pick one.

I looked up to meet the eyes of two of the most impossibly beautiful people I had ever seen before. I mean, I'd been around some strangely attractive people both in the Siereitei and out of it, but none of them were even a patch on these two. Their features looked like they'd been carved by the hand of a genius that only came along once every four hundred years on a quest for the essence of True Beauty. Their faces were perfectly proportioned and without flaw, they didn't have to move but I could tell that every gesture and movement would be perfection. It was also an intimidating sort of beauty. I'd never thought of beauty as being intimidating before but this was somehow.

"Mortals," the one on the left said.

I could tell it was a she, though the two of them were almost like twins in thier androgynous good looks this one exuded an aura of femininity.

"How wonderful."

"It's been a long time," the one to the right said agreeably.

His voice was light, but masculine... both were eerily musical.

Abruptly the circle that defined the glen was filled with people. I didn't know how they had gotten there or where they had come from, but all of them, save the guards who had escorted us were wearing the most intricate of finery. They were all to a person very beautiful, but not quite as beautiful as the ones who stood before me, or maybe it was just that the ones seated on the thrones had an aura of power was so overwhelming that it literally froze me up, just like my first encounter with the Kuchiki.

"We have heard that you seek passage through our Realm, mortals," the man-creature said.

It wasn't a human, I didn't know what it-

"Elves!" Isana said, sounding happy and excited for some reason.

I _Looked _a question over at her.

"Elves, fairies, the Fair Folk, the sidhe," she clarified. At my blank expression she rolled a hand and added "Y'know, Titania and Oberon and Puck..."

"Um, _noo_," I said truthfully.

"You've never heard of them?" she asked, her tone sounding like she couldn't believe it. "But everyone's heard of them!"

"I guess I'm not everyone," I grumbled.

Isana quickly gave me a run down on what elves were supposed to be, apparently a lot of different things, some said that they stole children from out of cribs and replaced them with little terrors, others said that they were the protectors of children, some said that they ran this thing called the Wild Hunt which tracked down people who had done evil things and dragged them off to Hell and others said that they were merely inclined to mischief or that some tales even had them as helpers and guides to lost travelers. Most Teutonic legends agreed that they lived in 'barrows' in a place called 'underhill.' Modern tales had them as wise and powerfully magical, and that they could not withstand the touch of cold iron. They were also said to be inclined to meddle secretly in Human affairs, and always on the lookout for something to alleviate the boredom of living for centuries on end.

"Why don't they just get jobs like me?" I muttered.

"Renji, they can probably hear you," she muttered back.

I looked up cautiously at our hosts but their ethereally beautiful faces gave nothing away.

"So," I said awkwardly, trying to get things moving along. "I can see you're all on guard against the Shadows, that's good. I suppose that makes us allies, or leastwise not enemies since we got a common enemy. I know_ I _wouldn't want one of the Faded using my Realm as a gateway either, I guess, so what do you say you just let us pass right on through and we'll track down that Shadow for you and take care of him?"

"_Real _smooth," Isana said sarcastically when my proposal fell flat by dint of a _complete _lack of reaction from the crowd around me.

It seemed like they were all staring in shock at me.

"I think you've managed to offend them somehow," she added after a long, strangely tense moment. "Better apologize."

Er, ah," I scratched the back of my head nervously.

Isana nudged me again.

"Sorry about that," I said. "I can come off as being pretty abrupt sometimes. My Captain is always telling me I'm hopeless when it comes ta stuff like this. How's about we cut to the chase? You an' me have both got a Shadow problem. I'm offerin' ta axe it for ya if you'll let me just track it across yer realm. How does that sound to ya?"

The most beautiful woman in the world blinked twice at me and then abruptly pealed out with a laugh that sounded like the music of that "heaven" that a lot of mortals were always going on about. The court around me just as abruptly followed suit. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"The Mortal definitely shows a tendency toward War Manners," the male elf said, sounding amused.

"We would hear your story, Mortal, considering that you bear a Zanpaktou but have a Mortal Body, and yet you wear an Earth-bond collar around your neck tied to this mortal woman... your story is bound to be the most interesting We have heard in some time."

"I'm kind of in a hur-"

Isana nudged me and looked hard at me with a look that suggested that it would be better for me to play along. Considering the fact that we were surrounded by armed guards at the moment, I _guess _I was inclined to agree with her.

"It might seem a little odd, but I'm actually a Soul Reaper," I started. "Sixth Squad Lieutenant Renji Abarai..."

I started my story with my quest to find out what had happened to the missing children, through being attacked by a Shadow and waking up in the Mortal Realm bound into a mortal body, rescuing Isana, tracking down info on the Shadows (I left out all the details on what they were figuring that the Elves probably already knew) then being bound by that damn mountain spirit to serve as Miss Isana's bodyguard in our merry little quest across the Dangai. The fight in the Court of Genbu, my side-trip to the Katschei's Realm and subsequent defeat of him, and the fact that Miss Isana could summon Guardian Spirits that had entered into contracts with her.

"...And that's how we came to cross your Realm after the Shadow," I finished a little while later.

"How very intriguing," the elf-king said. (It definitely seemed to me that the guy on the golden leaf-chair was the one running this joint.)

"Shall we keep them?" the elf-queen asked eagerly.

"You know the rules," the man replied. "We may not keep any mortal that does not wish to stay and must aid those of good intent across our realm, but..."

There was always a but.

"One does not cross a Realm without offering recompense for the hospitality of the owners," the Lady finished, looking eagerly at me.

"Now we're talking!" I said in relief. "What can I get for ya?"

I figured they'd be like the Court of Genbu, go somewhere and fetch something, maybe have a good fight or two and bring whatever they wanted back to them.

"You are a high-ranked Soul Reaper," the elf-king said. "It is a matter of great curiosity to me to see whether or not my own knights are on a par equal to yours or if they are in fact the better fighters."

The Queen looked delighted and clapped her delicate perfect hands excitedly.

"A tourney milord? How wonderful!"

I'd heard of "tourneys" before, a grin widened across my face. They were _fights_.

"Sounds great ta me!" I said cheerfully, drawing myself up. "I'll take on anyone who wants ta give it a go."

I was always ready for a good fight.

"Oh this is not proper," the elf-queen said. "There are Ways."

"Yeah," Isana agreed quickly. "I took part in a ren-faire once or twice too, and the knights are supposed to have the favor of ladies and there has to be spectators and prizes..."

"Just so," the elf-queen agreed, nodding firmly.

Must be a girl thing.

"You must be wearied from your journey thus far," the elf-king said. "Mortal Reaper, we wish a most excellent fight, so you and your mistress shall eat and rest up in accomodations nearby while the appropriate venue is prepared for the tournament."

I was all for some food. I looked a question over at Isana to see if she minded the delay and she just shrugged as if to say "what else can we do?" and nodded.

We followed one of the androgynous archers over to a nearby cleft in the rough cliffside only to discover that it was a kind of guest house. There was a low table in the main room that was laid out with food, all the other details of the room were unimportant to me though Isana certainly seemed inclined to comment on the decoration. She was also inclined to explore around a bit first. There was a doorway on either side of the room, the left side and the right side with two doors in each, one isana informed me led to a very nice bedroom and I breifly heard her exclaim in delight over seeing a real bath... I wouldn't mind one myself. Bathing in streams and lakes along the way wasn't terrible for me, at least I was staying clean, but nuthin' beat a nice hot water bath either. I'd be investigating that as soon as I was full up. The food there was stargen and exotic but none of it was spicy so I dug in. Isana joined me a little bit later gushing about how gorgeous the place was and how everything matched and worked well together, I listened to her with half an ear while I finished filling my stomach. The food was a nice change from the ramen and dried up edibles Isana had packed. Granted, Mortals had an amazing variety of pre-packaged food, but still...

"I'm fer a bath," I said, bowing politely to her while I picked a side at random.

I scrubbed myself twice over, happy to have ample hot water to bathe with instead of cold (which wasn't pleasant at all) and then let myself in for a good soak and rinsed again. I decided to forego dirtying another pair of clothes just for sleeping in and walked straight through the bathroom into the attached bedroom and flopped down into the featherbed waiting for me and pulled the thick covers up over me. It wasn't long after that I knew sleep.

* * *

**Yeah, yeah, "not another filler arc!" But it's fun so you're stuck for it. I just want you all to know that this has no _real _purpose whatsoever to the overall story line, it's just fun to imagine and fun to write. We can't have big, scary doom hanging around all the time now can we? Well, to be perfectly accurate, some of the events do have some small bearing but there isn't anything truly major happening until a couple more chapters.**** I hope you all enjoy reading it anyway.**


	43. Othersight

I wasn't sure how much later it was when a feeling of an unfamiliar presence in the room woke me. Since I was a warrior in the feild, my battlefield instincts woke me up all at once and I knew instantly where I was. I looked over at the person who'd woke me up, one of those beautiful elfin people. She or he very obviously eyed the knotwork of tatoos curlning down my shoulders and chest and abs, looking surprised. I'd put them back so I could keep all that damned reiatsu of mine in check. It was a pain in the neck to have to deal with when I wasn't using it with Zabimaru, the power felt damned uncomfortable, especially with my mortal gigai.

"Lieutenant Abarai," the elf said in a polite (but still musical) tone.

I tried not to smile at the use of my proper name and title, it wasn't that I minded Miss Isana calling me Renji all the time, I wasn't the type to stand on ceremony, but it felt good to be acknowledged as what I really was, a Soul Reaper.

"The tourney grounds are ready, your Lady is already there."

I wondered to myself whether or not I should correct him about that "your Lady" thing but decided to let it go. Technically, while she still held me bound by this damned collar around my neck, I was her vassal, so he wasn't entirely incorrect, but it still irked me a little. A lot.

The elf made him or herself scarce, which was good because otherwise it would have gotten a _show _seeing as I hadn't bothered to put on a stitch before I'd fallen into bed. There were clothes waiting nearby for me, the make wasn't as busy and fussy as the cut of the rest of the clothes that these Elf people wore; the lines were simpler, though still not what I was used to, it resembled neither a yukata nor my shihakushou. There was a long sleeved silk shirt in steely-grey with a sleeveless tunic to put on over it in a red that exactly matched my hair. It was belted at the waist with a belt of braided metal links of a hematite color that came with a loop for me to put Zabimaru in. The trousers were a charcoal grey that was almost black and the folded-over calf boots were black. At least I'd be able to move around in it okay and it was comfortable enough, I'd be sure to thank the host before I became the entertainment for the afternoon.

I followed the attendant elf who had woken me up, waiting outside of the door to the rooms I'd been given to use. He or she led me through the naturalistic city and out into a nearby field I could have sworn hadn't been there the last time I'd looked. There was a covered box and wide covered stands filled already with pointy-faced elven was a large collection of brilliantly colored tent-pavilions with banners flying in the breeze I could smell good food-smells coming out of them, it appeared that win or lose, I was at least going to be fed well for my troubles. There was another, smaller box that held just Miss Isana and the elf king and queen plus one or two others that I took to be either servants to attend to them or high-ranked nobles. On the other side of the field was a series of large tents with different colors, each flying some kind of pennant from the top. I guessed that would be my competitors.

Sure enough, once I stepped out onto a field delineated by a large circle of mushrooms, one elf emerged from each tent, making his (or possibly her) way over to the brilliantly colored box that held the king, the queen and Miss Isana. They all wore armor, like knights out of a story, but this armor didn't do anything _like _clank, in fact they could have been wearing cloth for all the noise that it made. The armor certainly looked beautifully made too, with the emphasis on beauty. Instead of being plain and militaristic, the armor that these elven knights wore looked like artwork they decided to put on thier bodies (of course, I had noticed that the dress that the rest of the elves wore did the same thing with cloth). Their armor was designed with intricate patterns chased into metal that had been enameled in brilliant colors. Not a line was left unadorned but instead of looking frou-frou, the armor was fully functional and looked elegantly deadly. There were ten elven knights in total, two in different shades of green, four in different shades of blue, one wearing purple, one in coppery orange, one in crimson red and the last wearing brown. I wondered if the colors meant anything or if it was just personal prefference. Thier suits of armor, like everything else I'd seen in this place were works of art and it breifly made me wonder what it might be like to wear one in a fight, but that wasn't for me I quickly decided, a man who needed something like that weighing him down was a man who needed to work on his speed to avoid getting hit.

I lined up along with the rest of them to bow to the company.

"We shall expect an excellent showing," the elf-king said. "My knights remember to uphold the pride of our people against the Mortal, and Mortal Warrior, best of luck to you."

I restrained a snort, they thought I was some kinda weakling or sumthin' well they had another thing comin' to 'em.

"Win or lose mortal, there shall be safe passage since we cannot impede your quest," the Elven queen said in a soft carrying voice. "But as incentive for you to make a good showing of yourself, we offer these as prizes."

She gestured to a nearby stand where I saw a set of cloaks that would have rivaled anything a Kuchiki might wear, a set of incredibly beautiful armor, some kind of strange... it looked a little bit like a dragon with an intricately worked saddle on its back, sort of, only it seemed to be made entirely out of colored light. I thought it was a weird peice of artwork at first, until it moved. Nice stuff. That elf-queen need to go to all the trouble of offering prizes though, I was gonna give a good fight anyway, after all I had my pride as lieutenant on the line. I might be a young one as far as Soul Reapers went, but I wasn't about to let anyone say I didn't have a good fight in me.

After the bow I noted that the elven knights walked over to the boxes to receive scarves or little white handkerchiefs from some of the pretty girls there. I ignored them.

:_Ya ready fer this Zabimaru_?: I asked, feeling that eager, anticipatory feeling I got whenever there was a good fight involved.

"Hey, Renji!" Miss Isana's voice called over to me before Zabimaru could do anything more than give an answering pulse of affirmation.

"What?" I called back over to her.

She beckoned me over saying

"You need to have a favor from me."

No way.

"I'm a Soul Reaper, not a knight," I replied. "We don't have those silly traditions."

Though, if it had been Rukia instead of Miss Isana, I'da been _there_.

I felt the magic collar around my neck tighten a little and there was a glowing green light in her hand. The collar started tugging on me, forcing me toward her. Perversely, I dug in my heels and fought. I'd protect her like I promised to (mainly because if I failed and she died and Kuchiki ever found out about it, my after life wouldn't be worth living) but i wasn't some dog of hers to come to heel whenever she whistled.

"Just come over here and take your favor properly," she insisted.

I don't want it!" I growled in reply.

"Oh stop being such a baby!" she exclaimed in frustration as the leash made of magic pulled me more firmly in her direction.

I snarled at her and pulled harder the other way. I felt like a fish being reeled in on a line.

"It's just a good luck charm," she said, with a hard magical jerk that made me stumble toward her.

"I don't believe in luck," I snapped back, finding my feet and pulling back. "Zabimaru's all the luck I need thanks."

_**A/N Ironically, in ancient mythology, Nue are considered to bring bad luck and plague with them.**_

The fight had become about more than just me taking the stupid handkerchief from her. She was testing the limits again, seeing how far I'd let her go, seeing how great her control over me with that collar really was. It was a battle of wills now, and I had yet to loose one.

"Just come over here," she grumbled, pulling harder on the spell.

I didn't reply except to dig my heels in even more firmly and stay where I was.

She gave an exasperated snapping gesture with her hand and I suddenly took a nose-dive into the ground. I bit the inside of my cheek as my chin hit the soft earth of the combat ring and I'm sure the glare I sent her way for making me eat dirt was a force unto itself. I couldn't actually make her pay for it since I sworn not to harm her or allow any harm to come to her while I was there to protect her, but damned if I wasn't seriously pissed off right then. She bit her lip and looked abashed but stubbornly held out the token. I made a face at her and ostentatiously ignored her.

I faced the ten knights before me, having been informed by the majordomo of the match-site that my first bout was going to be a melee brawl with a time limit. That suited me perfect right about then, I could _use _to blow off some steam.

The queen called the start of the match and the ten knights that had been standing in a row before me, suddenly weren't _there_. I almost wasn't expecting it when the point of a sword came out of no-where and almost landed a hit on me. I reacted with a street-theifs reflexes, twisting out of the way and whirling to counter-strike only to almost walk into another's blade.

"Howl, Zabimaru!" I summoned up the elegant shikai of Zabimaru's Baboon King form, making a quick sweep around me.

Naturally I hit nothing. I could sense the strange presence that was the Elven form of Reiatsu darting here and there, moving almost faster than I could track. It'd be like fighting against ten of my boss, Byakuya Kuchiki, King of the Flash-step. They'd use their positions to advantage in order to herd me this way and that. If I allowed them to di it, they would win the match before I could blink, the realization came to me in an instant. How was I supposed to fight them? The things I'd been fighting up until now hadn't had much in the way of brains so It'd been easy for me, now I was sort of regretting my relatively easy fights.

Maybe I was a bit of a war-monger who really still belonged in Eleventh, but I gotta say, I love it. I _love _a good fight. It might sound strange to anyone else but to me, I was able to find my greatest strength and clarity when I was on the battlefeild. People and things were pared down to thier simplest forms, there wasn't all the intricacy of interactions and motives and plans within plans or even causality. It was just me, Zabimaru, and the enemy we faced together. In this case there were multiple enemies but in the end it amounted to the same thing.

I'd be able to clear a spot relatively easy with that Raikou Enjin attack, so preparatory to unleashing my new bag of tricks I unlocked my lower two chakra and gathered in my power and started feeding it into my blade.

:What the-: I wondered to myself as I pushed power down the blade and the world went still and cleared in a way that I had _never _seen before.

All of the miscellaneous background details that had nothing to do with my fight faded to a background grey, and the enemies before me were all I sensed. The world slowed to a crawl. The people who moved about before me were solid grey, like moving granite statues with strange super-imposed glowing shadows of them moved about while the greyish solid reality of them stayed in place; or rather, they weren't _perfectly _still, but they moved so slowly that they seemed to be standing still. It took me a moment to figure out, but I caught on quickly enough when two of the blue shadows moved in on me at once and I automatically dodged out of the way but the grey form that the blue shadows had come from stayed in place. My body recognized an opening even before my senses did, my sword swung by reflex and I heard a shout of surpise and pain. And then another as I saw another blue shadow come in at me from the left and I automatically moved to block the movement.

:_huhn_...: I thought, concentrating a little harder on the movement of light and shadow around me.

In the strange clarity before me the world was brought to its most simple state, I'd experienced it once or twice before, a moment of clarity in the middle of a battle where it was almost as though I could _feel _my opponents movements before he even made any, but never to this extent. It felt like I had eyes on my skin, like all the possible movements they could make between this heartbeat and the next were laid out before me and it was merely left to me to counter them. I pushed myself to more speed intersecting my blade in between the different holes in thier pattern, and they _were _moving in a pattern. I could see it in front of me as easily as looking at a picture. I felt my blade jolt and clash with thiers when I moved instinctively to block and counter. It was more than a _moment _of clarity, I could literally see and feel thier movements all around me. They seemed to almost hang suspended in midair forever while I simply moved around them, blocking parrying and countering with Zabimaru's enormous blade.

:_This must be how Kuchiki feels every time he has to face an opponent with an ordinary set of skills_,: I realized.

Like we were partners in a dance I moved and ducked and swerved at just the right times to avoid their attacks, countering easily with Zabimaru, before I'd even noticed it, three of my opponents had been deprived of their weapons, they stared back at me from various positions on the ground, clearly dumbfounded. I paid no attention to them however since they were, by the rules of the contest, out of the ring. My attention was reserved solely for the opponents still moving around me. It seemed like both a lifetime and a heartbeat later when all of the knights disengaged at once, I almost moved by instinct to follow them but pulled myself back. The match was over and I pulled my reiatsu out of my sword and sheathed it, re-sealing both my chakra and my new abilities in the same stroke. The grey clarity of the world dissipated, the colors and sounds and scents returning to me in a rush that was shocking in its abruptness. I was pulled back into reality to face the elven king and queen. Isana Rourke was clapping her hands as I looked around me. I'd taken out a fourth opponent just before the queen had called time, leaving me only six to face in single combat.

"Intriguing," the king said to me from his position on the dais.

My head was still in something of a whirl from all the sensations suddenly surrounding me. Going from a world of stark clarity to suddenly being plunged in a world that was all sensation and noise was disorienting at first.

I nodded like whatever it was he'd said to me had made any sense at all.

"You may rest before your first combat Mortal Warrior," the queen said graciously.

She gestured to a tent off to one side of the feild that had been dyed a shade that exactly matched my hair. I was sensing a theme here.

"Thanks," I said, remembering to bow.

I all but staggered off to the tent. Now that the battle was over I felt oddly weak in the knees, like a whole lot of strength and energy had been drained from me all at once.

:_What a rush_!: I told Zabimaru in elation.

That strange othersight (or whatever it had been had been) almost intoxicating in its ability to allow me to fight the way I'd always wanted to. I'd touched on moments of clarity like that before but never to _that _extent, it had been as though I'd known what they were going to do before they did it. It felt like I'd been able to move faster too, though in my sight, everyone else had been moving slower.

::**_And I'm back in the game_**!:: I heard the tinier voice of snaketail tell me exuberently.

:_Snakey! Yer okay_!: I said, delighted.

Both of the disparate personalities of Zabimaru were as distinct and clear to me as... Momo and Kira were. I'd gotten a little used to hearing from Baboon King Zabimaru, though hearing him actually deign to say something to me still caught me off guard sometimes. I was more familiar with Snakey, I guess since we'd been working together for so long.

::**_Hey, I could use a little exercise too_**,:: Snaketail told me. ::**_I know yer hanvin' fun with furry here, but let's not get carried away_**.::

::**_He needs to practice with my form now_**,:: Baboon King said firmly and with dignity. ::**_You've had him for the last forty years_**.::

::**_But he hasn't been able to access my speed before_**,:: Snaketail protested. ::**_We could fully take these guys, using our accumulated expertise plus my snake-strike speed, we'd mow the grass with them!::_**

::I**_t is not a matter of winning or losing_**,:: The Baboon King said. ::**_This is one of the few opportunities that Renji will have to practice his skills without his life being on the line. Unlike in his former position as a memeber of the Soul Society, he cannot simply ask for a sparring match now and not have to worry about his opponent killing him for most of his battles. In our journey across the Dangai Renji must fight to protect his life so there is no opportunity to work on his technique without risking his life, this is an opportunity that I mean to have advantage of.::_**

::**_In short, yer callin' dibs_**,:: Snakey said in a resigned tone.

::**_You've had your fun_**,:: Baboon King reiterated.

Great, the two aspects of my sword were arguing amongst themselves over which one got to go into battle with me. If this kept up I could foresee troubled times ahead. To head it off I said

"Okay, here's the compromise you two."

I could feel them both listening with surprise and interest.

"Babs has a point in that Snakey's been my battle sword for the last forty years and we've already gotten Bankai together, I know I ain't mastered the Bankai yet, but given everything else I think we'll have ta hold off on practicin' fer a while. I'll fight with Bab's shikai for now so I can get familiar with it. I think he has a lot he still wants me ta know about it. So... the Howl-shikai will be my battle form until I master it all the way to Bankai. How'zat sound to ya?"

::**_I guess it's fair enough_**,:: Snakey said reluctantly. ::**_But if ya ever wanna borrow my speed again, just concentrate, I'm here waitin' for ya_**.::

::**_Don't call me Babs_**,:: the Baboon King said in a voice that was saturated with injured dignity.

::**_Nah then, it suits ya_**!:: Snakey disagreed cheerfully, clearly back up to full strength and ready to tease and antagonize his other half.

:**_It does not suit me_**,:: Babook King replied, slightly irritated.

I just smiled and let them go at it. There was no more heat in thier arguments than there was in any of the little bickering fights me an' Rukia got into, no matter how much we teased and fought our bond was still there underneath it all.

:_Small consolation_,: I thought to myself. :_But I guess I'll take what I can get_.:

"Hey, Renji," the soft, slightly accented voice of Isana Rourke called from the door-flap of the pavilion-tent I was resting in.

Now what did she want? What, she was actually going to come and visit me instead of pulling me in by my collar like she was bringing a dog to heel? I felt resentment burn in me towards her, at first I hadn't much minded helpin' her out, after all it was her son and she was a very worried mother and what kinda man would turn his back on that? But trying to make me obey had crossed a line somewhere and I didn't want to talk to her right then.

"Go away!" I snapped at her.

"Look, I'm sorry about earlier," she said apologetically. "I shouldn't have tried to make you do something you didn't want to-"

"Ya didn't have a problem with it earlier," I pointed out nastily.

"That was... I just wanted to find my son," she said.

I could hear her voice tighten up with tears and her reiatsu fluctuate with distress. I scowled even as I felt bad about making her upset.

"Yeah well, it sets a bad precedent," I growled in reply. "A lot o' people use power that way, once they see they can get away with one thing they'll turn around and try fer more."

I'd certainly seen it often enough on the streets where I grew up, a world that was dominated by the strong and by what they could get those under them to let them get away with. I didn't like thinking of the frail Isana as a bully.

"That's why I wanted to apologize," she said. "I had no right to run around jerking your chain when you've only been nothing but good to me. You even carry me around piggy back so we'll get through the worlds quicker and you never complain about eating ramen all the time."

"Nuthin' ta complain about," I grumbled as a peace offering. "Tastes good ta me, an' I've eaten worse. Just don't run around thinkin' that since ya got a hook inta me I'm yer pup ta call, got it? Ya keep it up, an' as soon as I get outta this body, I'll search out the foulest, most unpleasant world I can find to dump you in and _leave _you there."

She looked over at me as if trying to gauge whether I meant it or not. I smiled my scariest smile at her. Let her wonder.

"I'll uh, just keep that in mind," she said carefully as she backed out of the tent.

"Oh hey," she said, poking her face back into the tent a heartbeat later.

I looked a question over at her. She held up a white handkerchif. Did the woman never give up?

"Are you sure you don't wanna wear it, just for luck?" she wheedled.

"Zabimaru an' I make our own luck," I said.

"Geeze, with as single-minded as you are about your fighting, it's no wonder you don't have a girlfriend," she muttered.

I glared over at her. There was no need to rub salt in the wound here. That was uncalled for.

"I mean, if a girl ever were to make the moves on you, you probably wouldn't even notice."

Hold up. No wait... she wasn't saying what it sounded like she was saying was she? This could _not _be happening.

"Isn't it time you got back out there?" I asked nervously. " I mean, I'll bet they're waiting for you or sumthin'."

"Oh yeah, I guess I should go then," she said shooting a long look at me over her shoulder as she left, like she was expecting me to call her back.

Yeah, that was soo not going ta happen.

:_Zabs, I think we're in trouble_,: I thought to my zanpaktou.

::**_Nah then, I wouldn't worry about it,:: _**Snakey said**_. ::After all, she's still mortal and you're_**-::

:_Stuck in a mortal body_,: I countered in dismay.

It abruptly occurred to me that, even though I thought of myself as a Soul Reaper, maybe Isana was seeing things differently. After all, she'd only seen me in my mortal body, so I guessed that was how she thought of me. I closed my eyes and massaged a temple. And I was stuck traveling alone with her for the next foreseeable while.

:_I'm reading too much into this_,: I told myself firmly, tucking my misgivings away where they couldn't bother me and turning my mind to my next fight.

* * *

**Okay, so, maybe it's not all completely irrelevant. Pretty cool new power huh? Please remember to tell me what you thought.**


	44. The Perfect Gift

A few minutes later another of those androgynous-ly beautiful elves came in and announced that it was time for my first single-match. I walked out onto the field to face a tall knight in armor who was as slim as a rapier and looked just as tough. I didn't make the mistake of equating skinny and pretty with weak however... my Captain was Byakuya Kuchiki after all, and no-one who'd ever fought with him or seen him fight would ever again equate pretty boy with defenseless.

We bowed to each other and the queen called the beginning of the match.

The guy was fast I'd give him that, I barely even sensed him move before his sword was almost on me. I blocked by reflex and then turned and blocked again. Unlike with my Captain I didn't even have the slight advantage of having studied all of his movements and pauses, I was pretty much flying blind here. I didn't want to access Snakeys speed just yet though, I wanted to see how far I could make it on my own strength before I went to my sword for help. I vaguely sensed a wave of approval from Babs for the thought even as I dodged and swerved out of the way of his blade. The elf himself was nothing but a blur of movement. A blur and a pause as the blade drove in, that pause was just enough to give me time to block his strike. I couldn't even get a fix on him, so trying to fire off a Denkou-hou was out of the question.

:_Maybe I can herd him_?: I thought.

It was worth a shot, I could only move this form of Zabimaru in one direction right then so if I used a Hado spell to make him move one way I could have my blade waiting for him. I was terrible at Kido but there it was...

I concentrated a small collection of my power in my minds eye, feeling within me a ball of power gather in at my central chakra waiting for me. Unlike before, when Zabimaru had had to put bindings on me, this collection of reiatsu was not flickering and struggling and trying to go everywhere at once like a monkey trying to escape its cage. This ball of power was more controlled and regulated, the energy in it concentrating and shielding itself after only a little bit of effort on my part, waiting for me to do with it what I willed. Maybe this time... maybe _this_ time there was an actual chance that the spell wouldn't backfire on me! I carefully poured a little bit more power into it than I normally did and the orb expanded, but didn't start to struggle against me!

"Oh ruler, mask of flesh and blood." I chanted under my breath, beginning to weave the collected reiatsu into the opening lines of the spell.

"All Creations of the Universe, fluttering wings."

To my near shock I moved into the second movement of the spell without even having to gloss over the bits that I usually missed because my reiatsu was jumping out everywhere. This could actually _work_.

"You who bears the name of man! Scorching heat, take steps to the South!"

I felt the energy gathering in, coiling tight, like a snake about to spring, with the final movements of the spell. I released with a shout of

"War Cannon!"

A flaming ball of red shot out from my hand and I couldn't contain a grin of exultation as, for _once_, the spell didn't backlash on me! I took a visceral delight in the explosion that happened a moment later when the ball, though missing the living target, hit the ground behind him. I flashed to the side that the knight reflexively dodged to, knocked at his shoulder with the flat of Zabimaru even as I grabbed his wrist, and used his momentum to send him flying over my bent back. The Knight made a choked-off noise of surprise when he (or maybe it was a she) hit the turf. I wasted no time in bringing Zabimaru around to bear on him (or her). He blocked with his blade of course, but I had him at a disadvantage and I meant to keep him there, so I kept striking and didn't let up. He rolled to the side, trying to regain his feet and that was when I decided to do it.

I poured power down into my blade letting it glow with a blue white light like the heart of a star, lightning frissioned off from its edge, even as I gathered more power and the wind kicked up around me. I flashed in and struck multiple times, the knight just barely managing to keep his guard up though each consecutive strike caused him some damage. I pulled strength from the blade and knocked him high into the air.

Haah! I called as power and lightning whirled around me, gathering in at the tip of the diamond-head of my blade in a halo of diamond light.

"Denkou-hou!" I yelled, releasing the power at his still air-borne form.

It struck perfectly. The form went limp and fell to the ground in a heap. I gingerly went over and nudged it with the toe of my boot, worried that I'd done more serious damage than I had intended. The form groaned and a pair of elves wearing matching mint-green robes came out bearing what looked like an elaborate stretcher. Nice to see that they were prepared.

"Victory! To the mortal!"

There were gasps of surprise and shock and a number of them didn't look happy about it. I wondered breifly if I shouldn't have maybe thrown the match or something, this was after all, their Realm. Then I realized the reason why so many were unhappy a moment later as I saw silk purses exchanging hands rapidly.

:I guess some things are universal,: I thought with amusement.

Betting on the victors in sparring matches was one way that no-ranks liked to spend their time and paychecks in Seireitei too.

Isana gave out a cheer and a loud, shrill whistle from her fingers. Were we at a sporting event?

The next contestant, a knight in green walked out onto the field. I brought my sword around eagerly. We bowed. We began...

* * *

I'd love to say I won all of my matches, but as hard as I fought in all of them, that simply might not have been possible. many of those fighters I sensed, had been around for centuries and had had probably forgotten more than I had had the opportunity to learn.

Zabimaru seemed to have quite a bit for me to learn by the end of the day however, and we made strides in our working together and my utilization of his skills and full potential. He concentrated mainly on refining my technique and speed with the Denkou Hou, the Raikou Enjin, and the borrowing of snakeyt's super-speed. He was looking at the matches more as training opportunities, and when you train with a new set of skills, since you are in fact learning, it is impossible to be a victor at all times. Ya gotta loose some ta make gains, it was just the way it was. The elves in the stands didn't seem entirely displeased when one of their own lost to a mortal Soul Reaper some of them even cheered for me, part of that I was betting, was because they had vendetta's against the particular knights I'd been fighting at the time. I'd never been in a tourney before so it was kinda neat when they threw flowers. Some even threw what looked like coins and the inevitable handkercheif. I knew better than to pick those up, knowing my luck it'd be some kind of elven betrothal ritual or something.

Still, I won the majority of the matches which seemed to be enough to have them all declare me the winner and I was awarded the prizes. Well, I was awarded prizes in Isana's name. She got an elvensteed, which it turns out wasn't actually a flesh and blood horse at all, but rather a construct made out of magic. That had been that dragon-looking thing i'd seen earlier. It turned out that it could change to suit the rider's will and could fold itself up onto its little heartstone gem and ride along in a pocket. Handy that. Maybe that whole magic thing wasn't so bad after all. We were also gifted with a set of armor, well the armor had originally been for me but I'd asked if I could trade it for one that Isana could wear... after all, it would be a lot easier for me to protect her if she had something on her that would help her protect herself. I'd felt that armor, it was light stuff... she shouldn't have a problem with it, especially seeing as she had something to ride around on (and I wasn't going to have to carry her anymore). The elves seemed pleased to oblige me for some reason. (I found out later that it was because they're all _crazy _hobbyists and simply _lived _to do whatever craft it was they'd devoted themselves to). The cloaks had a spell on them to hide reiatsu and camouflage in with whatever background they came across as long as it wasn't thin air. Cool.

The sun was set by the time we got done with the accolade stuff and in the meantime the elves had spread out a huge open-air feast, and after a workout like that I was all for a little food and rest. The elves made a big fuss when Isana offered to play music for them for some unknown reason. I took it that, living in this isolated little world of theirs, they never got much of an opportunity to hear new things. They weren't certain at first what to make of Isana's violin-versions of popular rock songs, but she had a nice voice at least, and after a while they seemed to take a liking to them, especially the love songs. Some of them I'd even heard, the ones from the seventies especially, I'd just been starting as a Reaper back then and I'd been as curious as Rukia about all the strange new things in the Mortal Realm. A pity I didn't have my guitar with me, I might've joined in. Then again, maybe not.

Dinner was full of strange tastes and textures but all of it was good and none of it was spicy so I had a good time. I let Isana take over the show so I could concentrate on my food and she was her usual gracious self. She told jokes and amusing stories to keep them laughing, and explained strange facets of modern life in the Mortal Realm. Many of the elves shook their heads over how much things had changed since they'd bailed from the Mortal Realm, a lot of them, I was sure, were glad that they had gotten out when they did. Mortal Life was complicated in this day and age, it made me glad I was just a Soul Reaper.

Isana offered to show them her ability to Summon abilities and I sat up straighter to pay attention because it was something I hadn't seen either. She walked down aisle between the tables to the open dais at the foot of the main table and climbed up onto it. She closed her eyes and gestured, I could sense her reiatsu gather in around her, she was stronger than she looked. She actually had a pool of reiatsu that was comparable to one of the higher level seated officers in a squad.

Once her reiatsu was drawn and centered it dispersed outward in a flash and one of those intricate circles with the sigils and the glyphs written on it wrote itself in light around her feet. One of the charms on the bracelet at her left wrist started to glow with an emerald green light. She gestured and the flat disk suddenly started to spin on its side in the air before her then it expanded in her hands until it became a sizable flat mirror that glowed from within with a greenish-white light. Out of the pond-like surface of that mirror flew the little aqua-colored critter with the pinkish gemstone eyes. It gave one little squeaking noise, stood up on its hind feel like a ferret, bowed to all of us once and hopped its furry little behind back through the mirror. Next out came the enormous stone dog Bruiser who sat pretty with his tongue lolling ridicuously out of his mouth and jumped back into the realm afterwards. The pentacle shrunk back down to normal size and attached as a charm on her wrist.

The audience around the table applauded enthusiastically. It was quite a sight, actually. Urged on, the woman tried another one.

Isana gathered up more power and poured it out again, another diagram writing itself in lines of reddish-coppery colored light, the same shade as an ember in a fire, at her feet. One of the other charms, a staff about the size of a three quarter staff expanded out to full size with harmless flames licking up and down along the length that didn't seem to bother her any. She whirled the staff about and the pattern at her feet flared up and when she ended with a circle in the dance that she sent her staff into it made a hoop of fire and out of that hoop stepped Djinn, the fire Guardian Spirit I'd fought earlier. Fortunately, Isana decided against demonstrating his abilities right then, probably in the interests of not setting the clearing on fire.

The applause was just as enthusiastic the second time as it had been the first, if nothing people were even more amazed. I was glad she was getting a chance to shine, and consequently taking the attention off me. I liked a good fight but once the fight was over I preferred not to have to deal with blow by blow analysis of how it had went. I did enough of that on my own as it was.

Fair Mortals," the elven king said once Isana sat down.

I noted absently that the mortal looked a little tired when she did. I wondered how big a toll it took on her to summon up those Guardian Spirits and keep them in this plane took on her.

"I have sent a hunt on ahead to see where the Shadow's trail leads. For providing us with entertainment enough that we will be able to talk of it for some time, we shall help you to catch up to your quarry. The Hunt will return by morning, so then you may safely rest and enjoy this vale until then."

Isana looked relieved and overjoyed on the outside as I felt on the inside. The fact that we were so far behind that Shadow had been a worry of mine since this little trip had started.

After I was done eating I requested permission of my gracious hosts to walk around their settlement a bit before I retired. They graciously dismissed me to go where I would. I noted that there was a silent shadow that detached from the rest of the company when I did and stayed near me as I walked down the trail from the field to the village.

"Can I help ya?" I inquired of the evening air once we were out of earshot of everyone else.

"Rude Mortal, you have taught me the shame of defeat this day," said a lilting voice I didn't recognize.

"All those who fight know the shame of defeat sooner 'r later," I replied casually. "Don't let it getcha down."

The elf stepped out into the moonlight where I could see him. The slightly more delicate rounding of his chin and the smaller stature clued me in that this elven knight might actually be a girl. I'd been polite about introducing myself to the assholes before I tried to beat the stuffing out of them, as a courtesy one warrior to another, but none of them had returned the favor.

"Renji Abarai, Sixth Squadron Lieutenant," she or he said formally to me. "I request that we shall engage in combat once more, singly, with no honor on the line but our own."

"Sounds good ta me," I said agreeably. "When an' where?"

"Here and now, you shall be defeated by me."

"That's great but... how about a name. It's considered a courtesy, where I come from, for warriors to exchange names first if they truly intend to defeat one another."

"Ah, I see. Then this warrior that you face is Malkirien of the House Tolomadea."

"Right then," I smiled bowing quickly in unison with him and charged in for another swing.

The fun thing about having a second go-round with someone was that they already knew your moves from the first, so it forced you to get creative. I loved the flow of a battle, the give and take of a good conversation between blades. The world seemed so much easier to understand when you only had the enemy in front of you to defeat. In this fight it wasn't anything but a battle. There were no lofty goals waiting for me in the background, no real need to concentrate my energy on refining my skills or picking up a new one, it was just him and me, seeing which of the two of us had the stronger edge. As a result, this battle seemed clearer and more sharply defined than any of the ones I had fought in a good long time. The ring of steel on steel was like a subtle sort of music to me, the feel of my body and my blade matching blocking, outwitting the enemy before me was satisfying in a way that I hadn't felt in a while.

It ended in a draw. By mutual consent we'd kept our respective magical abilities out of the fight, just wanting a purely physical contest, the fighter wasn't a power-house but he was pretty fast and clever so he kept me on my toes. Zabimaru told me, when our blades met, that the knight was still young and untried, trying to make a name for himself and master the art of the blade, in that way he or she reminded me of myself.

"It was a good match," Malkirien said, sounding satisfied.

A draw wasn't quite a win, but it was enough to redeem a person in their own eyes. I hadn't given ground, but neither had he (or she).

I nodded agreement and turned to continue my evening constitutional. He followed along behind me, probably ordered to keep an eye on me. The houses were more recognizable in the evening, mainly because the lights from inside of them delineated the cleverly placed doors and windows. The elven city, or village, or whatever it was, was just as busy in the night time as it had been in the day, there were lanterns made of many shapes and sizes, each different and each seeming to fit perfectly with all of the others that lit the night. There was an open little glen surrounded on one side by a stream with a natural bridge of a fallen log that was simply too artful to be an accident and a small copse of rocks on the other side that made a natural open square. Elves wearing fine clothing in unpredictable shades and makes, all of them carrying that otherworldly grace that seemed to define them, glided this way and that in front of natural rock tables and tree stump booths that were spread with all manner of things.

:_It's a market square_,: I realized with some surprise.

It didn't look like any market square that I was accustomed to seeing of course, but I had cased, tricked, conned and robbed enough merchants as a young child to know what one was when i saw one, no matter how weird it looked.

I suddenly remembered the coins I had had tossed at me after the duels jangling in my pocket and the thought occurred to me that they probably wouldn't be worth anything anywhere else, so I should just "smoke 'em while ya got 'em" as the Mortals would say. I could get gifts or souvenirs for people, I hadn't done that yet, and while I wasn't exactly on vacation here I'd bet they'd at least appreciate the thought. I wasn't much of a shopper but Momo, at least, would appreciate the thought if nothing else. There was bound to be something in this place that even the Kuchiki didn't have two of. They were Elves after all.

:_It sure looks like they have a lot of things I've never seen or heard of before_,: I thought after a glance.

So I looked around. Kira collected artwork I knew, and there was certainly a fair amount of that. All of it was, even to my very uneducated eye, very beautiful. At a loss for what would suit him, I just started eliminating the options by what he didn't like. He didn't do flowers, still life wasn't meaningful to him, and despite my teasing he didn't go in for pictures of beautiful women. Landscapes maybe? There were gardens and ponds, scenes of moonlit nights over deserts, forest glens... the list went on. A painting of a mountaintop caught my eye but then the thingy standing up next to it was even _more _fascinating. It was a scene with a delicate little pagoda and cranes and trees carved out of different colors of jade it looked like sandwiched in between two peices of glass and set into a stand like looking into a painting that was it's own little world. My brow furrowed in surprise as I looked more closely down into it and saw tiny illusory little birds flitter about the branches, and the surface of the pond had a small fish jump up out of it. Was it real? I couldn't tell, I scented magic on it, but it might be just and illusion.

I indicated an interest to the seller and we haggled good naturedly. He didn't seem terribly interested in the coins, instead, he asked me about the person I planned to give the gift to. Gamely, I told him a little about Kira and how he collected art and also how hard it was for me to actually find art for him because he was picky. The artist seemed pleased with my description as he wrapped up the present for me. I was both relieved and a little disappointed to note that the water in the pool did not slosh around or flow sideways when he tilted it on its side. Just an illusion then.

The curiosity of the shop attendants when I bought presents for people from them was actually a running theme, as I discovered when I found a strange little music box shaped like a peach that played music when I opened it was a haunting little melody on the flute and I couldn't resist the pun on Momo's name. The vendor seemed to take the coins as more of a formality than because he actually wanted them, he too was more intrigued by the person I intended to give the gift to. He seemed most satisfied when I told them about the peach and Momo's name.

It was like that as well when I saw an artistically carved calligraphy set in a box made with a theme of cherry blossoms. I figured that, even if Kuchiki already had half a dozen, he'd take it just to avoid being rude. The seller demonstrated what made his set so unique; the brushes in it did not require constant re-dipping, when one applied ones reiatsu to the delicately carved brushes, ink magically filled the bristles. (Of course, he cautioned me not to apply too much spiritual power or the ink would come out in a flood, but that wouldn't be a problem for Captain who had superb control over his spiritual pressure).

I found other things too, some of them very strange indeed. Plates that had weird figures painted on them that moved around in funny little dances, little cat statues that performed noh theatre, Glass paper-weights that had illusory flowers in them blooming and closing back up over and over again. I picked up some of the smallest and most harmless-looking trinkets to pass out as visiting gifts to friends. There was one strange thing that I saw and wanted for myself. It looked strange; there was an empty, sphere-shaped chamber made out of intricately twisted wire that opened into two halves on a hinge. To the fore of that chamber was a small, short tube with a lens-shaped piece of crystal on one end and off to one side was another tube with what looked like an eye-piece. The shopkeeper demonstrated that one put clear spheres of glass or crystal (he added that they could be other shapes too, but spheres were what he liked to work with) into the center chamber, pointed the eyepeice at something and activated the device by pushing in a little power and the device would record whatever was in front of it!

:_Wow_!: I thought, instantly wanting it.

We haggled over it a bit and he threw in some blank spheres and it was a done deal.

I had hoped to find something for Rukia there too, but so far nothing had really seemed quite right. I was about to turn and head back the way I came, when my eye caught on a glint from a booth I hadn't noticed before. It was being manned by an older elf-woman who looked half asleep, most of her wares were beads or baubles of some kind, jewelry or hairpins. Rukia probably already had a billion of them, but the thing that my eye had fallen on was a faintly familiar shape to me, which made me draw closer.

It was a flower made out of silver wire as fine as a spider-web, woven delicately as silk into petals and fronds. But it wasn't just any flower... it was **_that _**flower. It was the flower that Rukia had picked up from the river that evening so long ago when we'd been fishing for food when we were kids. The memory of that time that had made my heart seem to both stop and beat faster as I looked at her, surrounded in the muck and filth of the Rukon District she'd _glowed _in the light of the suns. It had been then that I'd first understood it, this feeling that would carve the rest of my life out.

I picked up the delicate seeming metal bud, only to have to blossom out when I touched it. My eyes widened in wonder as I saw it light up at the touch of my reiatsu, the heart of it and the tips of its pistons were little colored pinpricks of light that looked like captured stars. They wavered and glowed in different colors and I watched it for a moment, a little entranced by the display. A delicate floral scent wafted out from it, sweet and slightly spicy, and a soft, slightly melancholy tune belled out into the air. I knew right then that, no matter what it cost, I _had _to get it for her.

"Ah, one of my finer pieces, mortal," the old woman woke from her nap.

First rule of haggling was not to show too much interest in the thing you want to buy.

"It is nice," I said casually.

I looked around at some of the other things in her booth, a jeweled haircomb like the one to the left of the flower wouldn't look bad on Rukia either, I picked it up and looked at it more closely then put it back.

"Nice stuff you have here, how much is that?" I pointed to a tiny figure of a woman in a kimono carved out of a single piece of rose quartz.

She named a price and I shrugged, still pretending to look over her wares, then I oh-so-casually picked up the flower that I wanted to buy for Rukia.

"And this was?" I asked, pretending that she'd mentioned a price earlier and I'd just forgotten.

The old elf woman gave me a direct look out of ancient-looking eyes that suggested that she knew exactly what I was doing but gamely named a sum. It was a more than fair price for the item.

"You intend this as a gift to someone?" the old woman asked curiously as I handed the last of my coins over to pay for Rukia's present.

I flushed, and tried not to look embarrassed.

"Ah, yeah. Y'know, it's be rude if I went somewhere and didn't bring anything back for my friends," I said, my throat feeling dry. "I saw this and..."

"A present for a friend?" she pressed adroitly as she wrapped the white-gold flower in a "box" made of brightly colored folded paper that was actually shaped to look like a flower bud.

I looked down. I could _feel _my face getting redder.

"Yeah, uh, just a friend," I said quickly. "She..."

I couldn't come out and say the kind of special meaning that this flower would have between the two of us.

"You feel that she will enjoy the present?" the elf asked curiously. "My people live a long time you know, and now that we are in effect exiled to Underhill, time grows longer. The days stretch on and on with nothing to fill them but our chosen crafts. A person who puts so much effort into the perfection of their crafts likes to hear that the things they make will bring joy to others."

I grinned genuinely at her and said

"It's... perfect for her. I've never seen another present that'll remind her of the bond we share as much as this one will. Thank-you for making it."

I kinda wanted to hang myself for being a sap, but she deserved to carry the praise of a job well done so that she could continue to have pride in her profession. The elf beamed at me and handed the package over.

I thanked her again and turned back toward the temporary quarters that had been given to me and Isana. Who knew when I'd have an opportunity to sleep in a real bed and enjoy a real bath again. I hoped that the hunt the elf-kind had sent ahead to track that Shadow came back with some good news, like that they'd found the damn thing.

:_I sure hope she likes it_,: I thought with that strange nervous flutter I always got when I contemplated giving her gifts.

Giving presents or trinkets to Rukia had always been a little hit or miss for me. There were times when a perfectly innocuous gift, like a basket of apples I'd picked or a new shirt, would cause her to scream at me and chuck it at my head. Other times the presents would be met with approval. Most times she looked perplexed, or worse, treated it as her due and compared them with other presents. Maybe sending her off to Kuchiki was not the best idea I'd ever had, it had certainly made finding presents for her into an Odyssey. Still, I had always been more stubborn and detirmined than was probably good for me, and I'd take whatever excuse I could find to give her something that might make her smile.

* * *

**Awww... I haz a waffy. I sort of envisioned the flower looking like those ridiculously expensive fiber-optic flowers that light up pretty this... (um, just remove the little parentheses and spaces.  
**

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**I was set to post this update about two days ago, but I had another story to edit, and then my internet screwed up so it for involuntarily postponed. As always, I hope you enjoyed the interlude and please read and reveiw.**


	45. Yeti: The Abominable Snowman

The next world we stepped out on made me stop and stare from the top of the platform.

"Whoah..." Isana marveled looking around her in awe.

It was like we were on top of the world. A vast mountain range of pointed, snow capped mountains spread our before us in every direction for as far as we could see. The ridges and peaks were stark and clean and majestic.

It was also fuckin' cold.

The air bit cruelly at me and when a sudden gust of wind blew through my relatively thin clothes, my boys tried to crawl up inside me. Isana quickly scrambled to dig inside that sling-bag of hers. After an interminable moment she pulled out the two heavy parkas that she'd bought before we'd left the human world. I was glad she was so forward thinking, because the cloak wasn't helping much. Isana quickly donned hers over her armor, zipping up the front and pulling on gloves and hood and even pulling a scarf from out of one of the pockets until the only part of her that I could readily see were her eyes rimmed by the fur-edged hood. I followed her example, or tried to, no-one had ever shown me the mysteries of the zipper before and I couldn't figure out how it worked until Isana got down and showed me. Then, as if I were a five year old, she pulled up my hood and tried to put a scarf on me with a mother-like

"Put this on or you'll catch cold.'

I snorted.

"I'm a man," I grumbled to hide my embarrassment at having to be dressed like a three-year-old going out to play in the snow. "We don't get cold."

Isana shook her head at me and mounted up again. The strange riding beast didn't look at all bothered by the shocking cold.

"Hey Renji, get up here," she said with a beckoning motion.

I looked up at her like she'd lost her mind. I eyed the beast beneath her which looked back at me through a soulless glassy slit-pupiled eye.

"No way," I said flatly.

"Why not?" she asked.

Did she have to ask? One I didn't ride, and two, I didn't want to be any closer to her than absolutely necessary. I'd discovered, to my very great embarrassment, that being flesh had more disadvantages than just having to eat and eliminate waste all the freakin' time. This body had biological imperatives that my proper Soul form did not feel nearly to the same level. And it didn't seem to have much of a preference either, any reasonably attractive woman of child-bearing age seemed to make it react. I was fuckin' embarrassing! If this was what that poor brat had to go through day in and day out I was now prepared to grant him a greater leniency and a greater amount of credit than before.

"I'll walk thanks," I growled at her in warning. I took up the reins and started out. The moment I stepped off the platform, I was waist deep in snow. It was difficult to move. The beast she was riding on however had longer legs than me and the snow only went to mid-haunch on it. It simply pulled its legs up higher when it stepped and continued on. I waded through the thick fluffy stuff with grim determination.

"Oh geeze! Just get up here already!" Isana said in a tone that implied I was being unreasonable.

I ignored her.

"If you'll ride along with me, I'll give you a cookie," she enticed.

I looked back up at her, mildly insulted at the implication. What was I, five?

"I mean it, I'm freezing over here and if you get on behind me I'll have something to block out the wind and keep me warm," she said practically.

I reluctantly nodded and plowed over to the side of the not-horse she rode. I found an empty stirrup secured to the side and pulled it out then stepped in and floundered my way onto the back of the creature. I'd never been on even a carriage or a rikshaw before, let alone a horse, and this thing wasn't even a horse.

"That's better," Isana said. "Much warmer."

Until the wind came at us from the side, that was.

"Let's just go," she said.

I tugged on one of the reigns until the creature was pointed in the right direction then gave a starting motion with my heels and it moved forward through the snow. To keep myself distracted I looked at the sky above us. It was night time, and so probably actually even colder than it would have been otherwise, but that didn't seem to matter much on this world. The sky over my head was spangled with perhaps more stars than I had ever seen in my life, but more than that...

"What are those?" I asked, in a tone of enraptured awe.

There were strange and beautiful bands of colored light, in all different colors, dancing in coruscating lines if misty fire across the sky. Green changed to blue, pink to deep red then to orange, yellow segued to green to purple. It looked like someone had taken the light from the windows of a cathedral and smeared it across the sky where it shifted and morphed unpredictably. I'd never seen anything like it before. It was... beautiful.

"I've heard if it before, they call them the Northern Lights, the aurora boreilis," Isana said, sounding just as awed by the display as I felt. "They supposedly happen in the dark of winter in places way to the north. I've seen pictures of them, but never the real thing."

At least I wasn't the only one.

"Hey, you got that bubble-shaped thing I got from the elves on ya?" I asked curiously.

"It's in my pack, why?" Isana asked curiously.

II wanna test it out and see if it works," I said.

Isana shrugged and dug around in her bag and a few minutes later pulled out the item I was looking for. It was a strange-looknig thing consisting of a small tube with a half-sphere lens sticking out of ine end, a main compartment that was bulbous and opened up in half where a person put the "dream crystals" which was an awfully pretentious-sounding name, but I guessed in this case it was accurate. The last but was a mirror-screen covered by a flap of suede leather or something to protect it. I did as the elf had showed me and inserted one of the blank crystal balls into the central compartment, uncovered the viewing screen and pointed the lens-end. I pushed in a little reiatsu to activate it and the crystal ball in the center started to glow.

The stark, snowy majesty of the ice-capped mountains fanned out in all directions, colored in multi-colored hues by the shifting, dancing lines of fiery glow moving overhead of us. I got a good long view of the mountains and then pulled up the camera to look at the sky.

"Rukia's not going to believe this, even if I tell her," I said to my traveling partner.

"You brought a camera?" Isana said incredulously.

"Izzat what it is?" i asked curiously. "I got it with those coins they threw at me from the tournament I won. Thought I'd like to get something that would prove where I've been, right?"

"Huh..." Isana said.

We rode in silence for a while, I was getting used to the strange beasts swaying side-to-side gait and the scent of my quarry was strong on my tongue, even stronger than the scent of frost and snow and the stark stone of the world. The wind shifted and I straightened, catching scent of something else. I couldn't say how I knew, but my instincts told me that the thing I was smelling on the wind was not anything harmless, nor was it an ally. It was an enemy. A moment later the scent from upwind grew stronger. It was coming this way.

"Renji, what-?" she asked as I abruptly dismounted and pulled out Zabimaru.

The still and starry air was rent by the sound of a deep howling bellow. Whatever it was that I'd scented, it sounded big. Good, I hated picking up weak, puny guys anyway. I crouched in front of Isana on her steed. I guessed it was a steed, it wasn't a horse and she was riding on it, so steed certainly fit.

Silhouetted by the fire in the sky at the peak of a nearby precipice, was the thing that I'd scented. It was big alright, as big as a menos grande. But no menos grande would ever have achieved _that _sort of mass and shape. It was shaped like someone had taken the worlds biggest mutant polar bear and crossed it with a gorilla, then gave it walrus teeth as a finishing touch. Charming. Still, it looked like it'd be fun to fight, that last feind on the previous world hadn't been any fun at all.

"Stay out of the way," I told her, flashing up to the feind waiting for me.

"Renji, wait!" Isana cried into the howling wind behind me.

"Howl, Zabimaru!" I roared, and my blade transformed.

I was getting used to Zabimaru's new form. The beast met my opening swing with a powerful knock from his paw that jarred my arm. He was a strong one, I'd give him that. Good.

:_Those fighter tendencies from the Zaraki Squad sure do stick with ya_,: I noted to myself in amusement.

I tested out his strength and speed and maneuverability. He was powerful, but slow and he wasn't very smart.

"That's... that's an abominable snowman!" Isana called over to me. "Be careful! Those things are legendary for their strength and ferocity."

I only listened with half an ear as most of my attention was brought to bear on blocking one of the swings from his massive forelimbs. The sheer force behind the blow sent me sliding backwards through the snow, my body leaving a plowed up rent in the snow. I leaped up onto the air and shot a Denkou Hou at him from above. The hit landed, but he barely even seemed to feel it. That was what I got for thinking I could scrape by with only releasing one Chakra. Still, it would be a matter of pride to me not to have to use my full strength on an enemy like this.

::_Oh, go ahead and use more of your strength Renji_,: Babs contradicted. ::_You are so unaccustomed to weilding it, that you could use the practice_.::

I mentally shrugged and slowly began to unbind my chakra. I felt a small tingle across my skin as the binding marks on my body erased themselves followed by that uncomfortably bloated feeling as the power of my reiatsu pushed out of its confines and seethed and roiled beneath the surface of my skin. How did the boss _do _it all the time? How did any of the higher-ups live with this nonsense day in and day out?

I pushed a small fraction of my power down the blade and it lit up along the tang, lightning frissioning and sparking off from the edges like sparks from a fire-cracker. It didn't help the annoying boiling of my power churning within my body much, and a small wind kicked up snow around me, the breeze turning alive with the smell of lightning and power.

I charged again at the (snerk) abominable snowman, and it met me with another lunging-punch meant to knock me off my feet. The joke was on him. As I swung down, I released a flare of my reiatsu to add an extra bit of power to my swing, and the beast was the one that got knocked back a pace or two. I followed up quickly by gathering my power for another denkou hou and knocked him completely over sideways. The beast rolled to its feet and smashed the ground, unleashing a blast of power bursting out from its fists. I blocked the brunt of it with Zabimaru but it still made me stagger a bit. In reply I swung and hit it, scoring its tough, furry hide with a long bloody scratch down the side. The blood steamed on the snow, staining it from pristine white to violent red.

We exchanged blows for a bit, with me dodging and testing around it. I knew I was acting like a cat playing with its food, but the main purpose of the fight was my own inner struggle to keep all of that damned reiatsu of mine in check. It kept trying to burst out in waves and push away at my inner defenses, its unexpected flares and tides kept making me lose my balance. The fight against the yeti was secondary to trying to gain control of all that power seething beneath the surface.

"Grahhh!" The snow-beast howled and charged again at me, I closed my eyes to concentrate on getting my reiatsu to stop trying to jerk and pop around inside of my like a restless beast and expanded my senses outwards, trying to feel his movements coming. At the last moment I dodged to the side and slashed with my sword, packing some power into the swing. Zabimaru's enormous blade hit cleanly and precisely on target, taking out one of the yeti's arms. I turned again to face the creature as it howled its agony into the crisp, clear air. The mountainsides seemed to shake with the force of its roar.

Wait. The mountainsides were not just _seeming _to shake... they _were _shaking.

My eyes widened as I tried to tke in what was happening, the ground at my feet started to tremble. Quickly I dashed in and fired of another denkou-hou, knocking the yeti back, which I quickly followed up with a powerful swing of Zabimaru. The head came off in a spurt of blood and the body fell to one side, the head rolling some distance away. I turned back to Isana in time to see the mountainside behind her crack in a line a ways upslope and start to move. I flashed over to her grabbed the reins to pull her elvensteed's head around and shouted

"Hang- on!"

I started running, leaving the beast to follow after me. It ran faster than it ever had before, even keeping up with my glide-step. The ground went from trembling to a powerful shake that would have made us stumble if we had been anything less than what we were; a Lieutenent of the Court Guard Squads and a magical construct designed to travel over the tough and dangerous terrains of the Divine Realms. I wasn't even trying to keep track of the scent, I was just running to try to get us out of the way of that avalanche before we could get caught up in it.

I could smell the icy blast-wind that heralded the massive shock-wave-like movement of tons and tons of ice and snow and stone. Not much time left.

"Renji!" Isana screamed in panic.

No help for it. I pivoted on a dime and flash-leaped up onto the back of her steed, putting both arms around her in a last ditch effort to protect her fragile mortal shell. I pushed my reiatsu out in a powerful flare to hopefully act as a buffer between us and the worst of the wave.

It hit us. The immense, raw, chaotic power that was the force of nature hit us like a pile driver. I heard Isana scream in terror as we were rolled over and over in the wave of snow, pummeled from all sides by ice and rock. I could feel my crude reiatsu shield taking the worst of it, otherwise we both might have died there. Were we tangled up in the reins of the beast, which seemed to dissolve underneath us into some strange orb of light and then I was just holding onto Isana, trying to protect her from being pulverized in the churning avalanche. My body felt a thousand times worse than the worse beating I'd ever had in my life, worse than the time that merchant in the Rukongai had actually manage to catch me stealing and beat me with a two by four, worse than the time I'd fought Captain Kuchiki. I was more worried for the person I was supposed to be protecting though, what had I ever been thinking taking this woman along with me? She couldn't even fight! If she died here, Kuchiki was gonna _kill _me...

"...I call upon you, hear my call and come to my aid... Djinn, I Summon thee!"

:_Wha-? A spell_?: I half wondered to myself.

Then I felt a massive furred body, warm as the side of a furnace, wrap itself around me and pull upwards. In a moment, where all had once been spinning, pummeling roaring chaos, there was peace and stillness. Another moment later, I felt the cold snowy ground firm beneath me, not moving in a chaotic wave down slope but vibrating intently with the movement of the rocks. I looked up in surprise, I'd thought for sure we were done for.

I let Isana go and she smirked at me.

:_She looks exactly like Rukia when she smirks_,: I noted absently.

The massive, fiery form of one of her Guardian Spirits loomed over one shoulder, powerful arms crossed over his massive chest. Isana nodded her thanks and him and made a banishing gesture with the fire-staff in her hand and the beast leaped backwards and disappeared into a hole in the air. I grinned up at her. Maybe bringing her along hadn't been such a bad idea after all.

"Nice save," I congratulated her.

Isana straightened her spine and tossed her head back.

"Naturally," she said with a blithe tone, like she did it every day. "I'm just that good."

:_Like sister, like sister_,: I thought to myself, shaking my head.

"It's a pity we lost yer riding-critter," I said.

It looked like I was back to carrying her ass.

"Not true," she said, a further smirk in her voice.

She put her fingers up to her mouth and whistled shrilly. From out of the still churning avelanche of snow an orb of red light popped up and drifted over toward us. It hovered next to her for a moment then spun itself out into lines and stars of light that quickly resolved itself into the draconic form of her not-horse beastie. Complete with saddle.

:_Now that's convenient_,: I thought to myself.

If it hadn't meant having to go back to their Realm, I'd thank the Elves again. They were not only wonderful craftsmen, but good with magic too. Of course, they had a long time to perfect it. I wasn't even a century old yet and I was still working on mastering my sword and my reiatsu.

"What do you think we should call him?" Isana mused out loud.

"Who?" I asked, confused by the non-sequiter.

She gestured over to the thing she rode on. I shrugged, leaving it up to her.

"I think I'll call him Tanner," she grinned wickedly at me. I looked blankly at her.

"After my ex-boyfriend," she clarified. "There's something so _right _about me getting to ride along on his back after so long of me carrying his tired ass on mine."

I snickered at the observation and waited for her to mount up. I didn't feel like riding again so I just took up the reins and led the beast along behind me. After the avalanche there wasn't a whole lot of snow anymore, it was mostly bare scraped rock. There was something sort of pleasant about the stark white of my surroundings, everything looked so clean and pristine. The mountains themselves seemed to exude a proud and intimidating majesty just by being there... a little bit like the Captain at his most Kuchiki-ness. I mean, not that he wasn't Kuchiki _all _the time but there were some times more than others that he seemed even cooler.


	46. Ice Queen

It took me a little while of having to back-track over the place we'd just run away from and pick up the trail but eventually I found our way back on track and we continued on. The mountains and those northern lights were beautiful and all, but this place was fucking cold and I wasn't all that wild about sticking around. Besides, I didn't want this woman catching her death. From what Kuchiki had told me about her previous life, she'd been the frail and sickly sort.

:_That's funny_,: I thought idly as I listened with half an ear out for trouble.

She didn't seem at _all _the frail sort. What I'd seen of her had been a woman who had a tremendous will to find and protect her son, a woman with drive and detirmination, not the sort of frail little milk-sop that Kuchiki had described.

:_Might be that hispanic upbringing of hers_,: I chuckled to myself.

It seemed her life in the mortal realm had cured her of any tendency toward being weak and dependent.

:_Well, then, good for her. The system works_.:

I followed the stench of temple incense easily through the ridges and narrow ways of the mountaintops, ass-deep in snow and freezing. I just wanted ta get the hell out of that place already. Let Rukia handle non-sense like this, she was the one with the ice-zanpakutou and I'd noticed that it gave her some immunity against cold, as for me... I hated the cold. I always had and I probably always would. In the tinterests of getting out of there faster, I kept sprinting along with the draconic not-horse trailing along after me carrying a clearly unhappy Isana perched precariously on its back. I felt the energy of the recently activated gate platform before I saw it... and at that same time I felt a _different _kind of energy. A Guardian Spirit.

I stopped, crouched in a defensive form in front of Isana. The collar on my neck throbbed a bit, she was worried. In front of us the snow began to glow silver white, small motes of light fell from the clear starry sky like snow, drifting down peacefully, it reminded me a lot of Rukia's Zanpaktou, Sode No Shiraiyuki, the sleeve of the white snow.

::_Sode No Shiraiyuki was once a member of the Court of Seiryuu_,:: Baboon King Zabimaru volunteered unexpectedly.

I was taken aback. Were all the Zanpaktou elemental spirits attached to the four Great Elemental Courts in the dangai?

::_Jus' like yer attached ta th' Court O' Pure Souls, distantly_,:: Snaketail Zabimaru replied in answer to my silent guess.

I tucked that information away for later.

The glowing snow in front of me swirled around in a vortex of white light that slowly spun into a crystalline cocoon of ice, like glass. It shattered open to reveal a beautiful woman, she looked like a sculpture made of glass that was lit from within by silvery light. Her hair had beads of crystal in it that sparkled like water drops. Her clothes were white and they sparkled like moonlight shining on snow, she wore a beautiful silk kimono with a light shawl of mist floating up behind her, reminding me of paintings of the old legends of hagaromo tennyo. She looked over at me with eyes that were like two chips of ice.

I wondered if I should pull out Zabimaru. I kinda had this thing against hittin' girls. You'd think my time in eleventh squad would've cured me of it, since, once a person was facing him across the battlefield, all genders were one to Zaraki, but I'd never quite gotten over that protecting instinct where a woman was concerned. It probably came from always wanting to look out for Rukia (whether she wanted me to or not).

"I am Shivna-vatu, the Guardian Spirit for this Realm. You shall not pass," she informed me.

"Why not?" I asked her.

I really wanted to know, I mean it's not like we were hurting anything... except the yeti, and I didn't think he should count since he struck first. All we wanted was to just use the Gate, we weren't taking anything from this place.

"I am tasked with the protection of this Realm," the Guardian Spirit replied.

"Okay.. we're not harming anything. We just wanna use the Gate to the next Realm. We're trying to track down a Shadow that passed through this place the other day," Isana said. "We'd really just prefer to be on our way without fighting."

"I cannot allow that, none shall pass, that is the rule I was left with."

"Well if you can't help it," I said shrugging, crouching down and pulling out Zabimaru.

I felt her icy power gather in around her and so I dodged to the right while I called upon Zabimaru. His howl form unsealed and manifested and I automatically gathered energy from my lowest chakra and pushed power into the blade. A slim, shimmering halo of diamond-fire glittered along the edges of the curvy blade witht he occasional frission of lightning power crawling up its length and sparking off like mores from a fire. The air temperature around me dropped even more than it already was and i could see what little moisture there was in the air bead up and freeze into tiny flecks of icy-snow that whiled in the air. The tiny snow flecks gathered in as Shivna-Vatu gestured. Thousands of tiny, dancing shards of ice, needle sharp materialized and swirled in a cloud around me.

:_Wrong attack to make with me missy_,: I thought with a small surging feeling of triumph as i blurred into flash-step.

My Captain Was Byakuya kuchiki, a man with over a century of experience on the battelefeild, and his zanpakutou was Senbonzakura, a blase that scattered into reiatsu-controlled shards of steel so thin that they were peceptable only as delicate-looking cherry blossoms. Those seeming-delicate little petals could shred an enemy into confetti-sized peices and lay waste to an army with but a single gesture of my Captain's hand. I myself had managed to stand against Senbonzakura Kageyoshi, which was about a thousand times a thousand cherry blossoms. And this Guardian Spirit thought she was going to best me with a mere hundred shards of ice, she was standing before me a century too late. I flash-stepped to one side as the ice-shards converged on the spot that I had been mere moments before.

:_Wait for it_,: I thought, holding back my counter until all the shards had centered in mostly one concentrated location. I opened up my lowest chakra all the way, gathered in my power and shot it down the blade, concentrating it in a halo at the tip.

"Denkou Hou!"

The lightning burst hit the cloud of ice-shards directly where they were thickest and shattered them, vaporizing the ice shards.

:_My captain's zanpakutou would never have been so easily defeated_,: I thought.

Ah, but that was merely the opening volley. The snow all around me suddenly raised up, but instead of swirling about in a flurry, like I had halfway expected, it raised into a great wall then converged, melting and merging into a wall of ice, which promptly tilted and curled like a wave, moving to crush me. i quickly flash-leaped over it and hit the backside with another denkou-hou. The icy wall morphed forms from a wave, suddenly becoming long and serpentine. It snaked it way up after me in a long, sinuous, flowing form, freezing the air about it in a cloud.

:_This woman keeps picking all the wrong forms with me_,: I thought in amusement.

First she picks a weak form of what resembled my captain's Zanpaktou, then she picks a sadly inferior copy of my own. I knew the twisting ways of the snake-tail (which was what her little ice-serpent resembled) in and out, forwards, backwards and sideways, having mastered it all the way to bankai. I charged in as it sprang at me, head first, and landed on the flats of my feet, just behind its head and pushed more power into the diamond edge of my blade. I deftly inserted it all the way through where the "neck" would begin and slid down the ice-wyrm, dragging my blade along behind me. The lightning-heat of howl-form Zabimaru melted through it body (though the lightning tended to ground once the ice melted into water) disintegrating it into vapor behind me.

More snow gathered in again and pounded down in a pillar the place where I stood.

:Tsukishiro. Really?:

I snorted, and promptly flashed out of the way. With the pillars of ice trying to pound down upon me, hoping to freeze me in thier depths like a fly in amber, the best place to be was out of thier way. After several failed attempts to entrap me that way, the Guardian Spirit got clever and turned her pillars into great spheres of pure ice, like beautiful crystal balls reflecting the misty fire of the colored lights ahead of us. They were pretty to look at, but I couldn't really take the time to appreciate them, seeing as they were rolling around trying to flatten me.

One of them got me, rolled right over top of me and flattened me into the snow. Quick to take advantage of an opening, Shivna-Vatu solidified the snow around me into ice, freezing me immobile. Then above my head, I heard the tinkling sound of ice clinking together like glass. Long cone-like spars, that looked like a wickedly evil version of hat hung off the eaves of a house in winter, materialized in the air above me pointed right at me. isana yelled out an unnecessary warning as I was already raising the flat edge of zabimaru before me like a shield. The ice spears shattered against his length and a flare of power along the edges of his blades got rid of most of the ice that held me fast. The rest was taken care of with the next swing. Just in time too, because those other ice spheres she had rolling around were coming at me. The one nearest I shattered with a well-placed swing of Zabimaru, the one farther away I vaporized with a Denkou Hou.

I fired off more Denkou Hou's to try to take care of the others she had running around. She was creating them just as fast as I could destroy them and I was firing off one Denkou Hou with every swing of my sword. Then she added in more of those ice pillars and ramps of ice to launch the things airborne and I was abruptly reminded of those machines I had seen in the mortal world where one tried to score points using a small metal ball and flippers. I flashed this way and that, carefully dodging the enormous Indiana-Jones-sized ice spheres rolling this way and that, or flipping up into the air and crashing down suddenly, banking of pillars at odd trajectories. That when she threw another wild card at me. The floor, which had been until then hard-packed snow suddenly solidified and smoothed out to a glassy surface. I promptly fell on my ass of course. I heard tinkling laughter from the Guardian Spirit as the speed of those giant ice-balls increased, rolling this way and that.

:_That bitch_,: I muttered to myself, rolling into a dodge that sent me sliding too far one way.

I couldn't get my feet under me, but I could at least manage to keep those ice-globes from crushing me flat. I kept firing off Denkou Hou's in rapid succession, the orbs disintegrating into shards and powder, but there were always two more to take its place.

:_Where's Rukia or Captain Hitsugaia when they'd actually be useful_?:

I tried to climb up from my knees, but slid again. This was not covered in my usual all-terrain fighting training regimen. I'd have to fix that when I got back.

This was fun and all, but it was ultimately getting me no-where. My real target was that Guardian Spirit. I kept destroying what she threw at me but she remained unscathed. That was going to have to change.

:_I wonder if I can fire off two Raikou Enjin's in a row_,: I thought musingly to myself.

Only one way to find out. I slid open my second chakra carefully and wasted no time in wrestling my reiatsu into submission. After I had it flowing into my channels I pulled out what I needed and the orbs of contained lightning materialized around me, orbiting me in a glowing ring. I sent it spinning her way to converge in on her in a six-hit strike that kept her staggered for a long minute. I fired off another denkou hou right after it, just to keep her bells ringing, then pulled power in and pushed it out again, materializing another Raikou Enjin. This one brought her down from her feet to her kneet, body spent with exhaustion from trying to ward of two multi-attacks in a row.

"I yeild me mortal warrior," the woman said, slumping to one knee in exhaustion.

Isana pulled out the chalice from her charm-bracelet and it expanded to the size of a small cauldron. Water laced with light began to swirl in a vortex in the bowl of it and expand outward. Lines and sigils of light began to write themselves in patterns of concentric rings inside the vortex.

"I agree to it," Shivna-vatu said bowing her head in submission.

The glass woman began to fill with bright white light like water with a light shining through it and dissolved into stars which promptly joined the swirling water inside Isana's chalice there wasa final flash of blue-white light and then the chalice held between Isana's hands became a charm on her wrist again.

I was panting with exhaustion and parts of me were still stining from that Guardian Spirits viscious attacks. It had taken much of my strength to defeat it though I could tell already that I was much stronger than I had been when I started on this journey.

Isana cupped her hands that the gentle green light of her healing sigils wrote themselves into the air between them. A beam of green healing light shot out from the center of the spell and swept over me, I felt a tingling wave of wellness envelop me and all of my wounds, major and minor, faded. I doubted that Captain Unohana could have done better herself.

"Thanks," I said with a crooked smile over my shoulder over at her as I gathered up the reigns of the beast she was riding and started toward the Gateway before us. I wondered at the sudden strange fluctuations in the reiatsu coming from the woman behind me but decided against asking, I probably didn't want to know anyway.

* * *

**You want to know what amuses me? The summer beach episode of Bleach. You want to know why? Because, if you lined up the men in the episode in a row shirtless you could easily go down the line picking out "Eleventh Squad, Eleventh Squad, not Eleventh Squad..." And how can we tell? **

**...They're the ones rocking the six packs.**

**Just watch it and look, if you don't believe me, you'll see what I mean. It's hilarious. There was one disappointment in it for me though; that watermelon-tentacle-monster (which doesn't make my mind go to dark scary places_ at all_) shows up, and Renji's the only one with a sword and I'm thinking "finally! He gets to save the day instead of Ichigo!" But sadly it was not to be... well, at least it was Yoruichi and SoiFong instead of Ichigo, that's some small consolation from having to watch poor Renji get drownded.  
**


	47. Complicated

I'd never been so glad to sprint a cross a starpath before. Interesting enemies. but that last world had been _cold_, and I didn't do cold. The next world we landed on was another forest, this one looked partly alive this time. There was no real sign of any ruins or other structures and the trees weren't all dead or dying. The trees all looked healthy and the mist that clung here and there in low spots in the ground around us didn't smell of decay but like the world had just had a healthy rain. Maybe this place was inhabited.

Well none of that mattered, not to _me _anyway, I had a mission to concentrate on. The sooner I found that damn Shadow that turned me mortal, the sooner I could defeat it, get Isana's kid back, get them back to the Mortal Realm and then...

:_Then what_?; I wondered.

Go back to the Seireitei and make my report would be the obvious answer, but even if I found that Shadow and bound it up into its mitama, how did I know if that would undo whatever had been done to me to turn me mortal, and if it didn't, wouldn't going back to the Seireitei still stuck in a mortal body be an automatic arrest? But I had to tell my Captain about the Shadows, even if my guess was unconfirmed and just a gut instinct, maybe even paranoia, I should at least warn someone. I would have evidence that the Shadows existed at all, perhaps that would be enough to validate me. Then again... since the Aizen debacle, people had sort of been seeing traitors under their beds, who knew what they'd already decided about me behind my back?

I led the beast over the twisting forest ways at a sprint, Isana clinging to its back like a burr. If we hurried, we might be able to catch up to out quarry before this damn mortal form of mine was forced to stop and rest.

:_Maybe I'll swing by Uruhara's first_,: I thought to myself. :_If nothing else he might have done some research on it and have a way to get me out of this body_.:

I was still reluctant to get him involved though, this situation could be thorny enough _without _adding in the presence of an exile.

Still, I guessed nothing could be decided until I'd found that damn Shadow. I had a promise to keep first of all. I couldn't get this damned obedience collar she'd put on me taken off until she had her kid and was put back safe and sound in the Mortal Realm.

"You look like you're concentrating on something, a penny for your thoughts?" Isana asked me.

"It's Soul Reaper business," I replied shortly.

"In other words, none of mine," she said, sounding a little hurt.

Well, yeah. Duh, she wasn't a Soul Reaper.

"I'm just trying to plan what I'm gong to do next after I get you and your son back in the Mortal Realm, that's all. I mean, obviously finding a way to get rid of this body is what I want to do first, but I'm wondering if they'd arrest me on sight if I showed up in it, or if they'd at least hear me out before arresting me."

I'd stopped leading her beast along by the lead reigns in front of her and dropped back beside her to talk. She looked down on me from the top of Tanner of course but still, it was easier to hear her that way.

"They'll arrest you if you go back?" she said, sounding concerned.

"They might, just by accident," I replied honestly. "One of the major rules of the Seireitei is that a Soul Reaper can't bestow his power on a mortal-"

"But you haven't," Isana protested.

"Well, the last time this happened, she was trapped inside a gigai in the mortal realm for months, people might take one look at this body of mine and arrest me on principle, not knowing any better. That's another reason why I need that Shadow, I need actual proof that I'm not making it up about being made mortal against my will. None of them have ever even _heard _of the Believed before. So far, I'm the one with all the peices of the puzzle."

"Oh..." she said.

It was silent for a long moment and then Isana said with an odd, too-casual note in her voice.

"You could always just... not go back."

I stopped and stared at her, gaping a little in shock. Not go back? But...

"I mean it," she continued. "You're in a bonafide mortal body now, if they're just gonna arrest you when you go back and not be reasonable about it, then you shouldn't go back. Just stay mortal."

My mouth worked for a moment and I finally exclaimed

"I can't do that!"

"Why not?" she asked curiously.

"Because I'm _not _mortal, I'm a Soul Reaper!" I said.

It was more than what I did, it was what I _was_. Renji Abarai, Sixth Squad Lieutenant. There was a long drawn out silence and Isana said

"I guess that's true, you probably wouldn't fit in in the modern world anyway. I can't imagine you in a suit shuffling papers."

"I shuffle papers as a lieutenant, but I'm a warrior first," I replied. "You're right, I wouldn't make a very good modern man, no swords for one thing. And they seem to spend all of their time doing strange and incomprehensible things with computer screens and what not."

Isana chuckled a little ruefully.

"Yeah, it's kind of a shame though. I'm going to miss you when you're gone. Will you come and see me? If you're not arrested, that is."

"Probably not," I said.

It would be best to make the break clean, since I was going to be erasing her memory anyway once I brought her son and her both back where they belonged. I didn't want to have any unfinished business left behind.

"Besides," I said trying to make a little joke of it so she wouldn't look so disappointed. "Most mortals go out of their way to avoid meeting death, it's probably bad luck to invite it in."

"Probably,' she agreed, though it sounded a little sad.

I was relieved when she kinda changed the subject.

"What are you going to do when you get back home then?" she asked.

"Probably get chewed out," I answered promptly. "I'd bet good money that my Captain's probably already got his lecture written out, an' I'll bet it goes on for pages and pages. Or even worse, he won't say anything at all. Yeah, tha'd be more like him. At least Captain Zaraki'll smack you around a little bit if ya piss him off, but Captain Kuchiki is so hard to understand sometimes. I hate it when he doesn't say anything an' I gotta guess what he means. Geeze, it's like bein' married 'r sumthin'."

I hadn't meant to say all that last out loud. Isana gave me this piercing look and after a long pause she said

"You really admire your Captain, don't you?"

Of their own accord my eyes widened and I looked panicked, worried that she'd misunderstood me.

"That's not it!" I yelled, waving my arm in vehement denial. "That's not it _at all_!"

"Oh really?" Isana said skeptically. "Isn't he the one you write letters to every night before you go to sleep?"

_Letters_? where the hell was she getting this crap?

"They're _not _letters!" I snapped at her. "They're _reports_. It was the only thing I could think of that might help me convince him I'm sincere about hunting down the Shadows for the good of the Seireitai and not just larking off and doing what I want to."

"Aren't you larking off and doing what you want to?" she said with that facial expression that Rukia did when she said stuff like that.

"No," I grumbled by reflex. "And you're missing the point. My Captain is my rival, get it right!"

Isana's eyebrows furrowed in puzzlement.

"You want his position?" she guessed.

"Not really, I just want to become strong enough to defeat him one day."

"So you want to kick his ass?" Isana guessed. "You must really hate him."

"No, I don't hate him at all," I said honestly. "Well, not much."

She looked at me from the back of her not-horse Tanner and said

"Lemme see if I understand you right... You have a rivalry with your captain but you don't want his title, and you want to kick his ass but you don't hate him? That makes no sense."

"Relationships between Captains and Lieutenants can be kinda complicated," I muttered by way of answer.

Perhaps in these times more than ever, and especially between the two of us.

"There's a woman involved in this somewhere, isn't there?"

I goggled at her in amazement, it was like she could read minds!

"Whoa! How'd you know?" I said in amazement.

"I wonder," she said dryly. "Can't we slow down a little, I hate riding on this thing when it's going fast. It feels like I'm going to fall off."

"The faster we go, the better chance we have of catching up," I said.

It wasn't like I was without sympathy for her though, we'd already been through a lot that day, two world gates one of them being a world that was full of snow and cold, a powerful fiend, a yeti, an avalanche and a Guardian Spirit. It was a wonder I didn't feel _more _tired, but I was accustomed to living hard so this wasn't as big a deal to me. Poor Isana had been so sheltered before I came along.

:_Look at the bright side, as soon as you get her back to the Mortal Realm she won't remember anything_,: I thought to myself.

It wasn't that I disliked her so much, she was nice enough, but boy was she ever an unlooked-for complication.

We made our way without incident through that world to the gate platform where I sensed that the Shadow had been recently. The scent was subtly stronger but I couldn't tell how close we were to catching up and my body was starting to feel the effects of the day. We had been traveling, in between fights and a ride down an avalanche for most of a human day. We hadn't eaten anything and my stomach was grumbling. I slowed down near the platform and took a look around. This world was already at twilight and as near as I could tell, most of the Divine Realms mimicked the time of day in the human world at their old places of power. I needed to eat something and get a quick sleep.

Perhaps on the next world if it wasn't so dangerous.

Isana sketched the gate coordinate symbols while I summoned up some reiatsu to activate the gate. With everything I'd been doing with it lately, I could now actually feel the drain on me when I gathered in power. I might need to open up another chakra before long to give me an extra boost.

To keep my mortal body going the same way my regular spirit form would usually be able to go I'd had to augment my power by using my reiatsu to give me an extra boost. For the last week or so I'd only had to keep my first chakra unbound to do this, but with all of the more powerful fights against stronger foes, and the continuing wear that the journey was taking on my energy reserves being trapped in this mortal body, I might need to unlock another chakra to keep me going at the pace I needed to.

We crossed that gate into another world and this one was one of those worlds that seemed to be coming apart at the edges. There were ruins nearby, an old run-down castle done in the late medieval style, the kind that had been built of grey stone and designed to outlast a seige. The wood that was near the castle had tall trees but some of them were drooping and there were some small patches of sky that had gone missing.

More importantly, the scent of Shadow when I crossed onto that world was different. Not only was it stronger, the scent of incense was almost like a choking fog to me, but there were other, similar-but-different scents woven into it. My quarry smelled of temple incense and burnt metal, but now I smelled a lighter sandalwood-type of temple incense mixed with chalk, and a mhyrr mixed with old paper.

I stood still, sniffing the air and rolling the strange scents over my tongue, the power-signature interwoven with those scents was absolutely unmistakeable... it was the same sort of power I had sensed in Rukon, the same sort of power I had felt turn me mortal. There were _other _Shadows around here.

"What is it?" Isana asked nervously.

"There are more scents now. More Shadows," I said.

Unless they were all going in the same direction, this might complicate things a bit.

"Oh..." she slurred a bit.

I looked over at her. She was slumped down in the saddle, clearly barely able to hold herself upright, she looked drawn and pale. Utterly exhausted as a matter of fact. I mental kicked myself for not having noticed it earlier; I was so used to traveling with other Soul Reapers who like me could go for days and not get tired. Of _course_ Isana would be feeling exhausted after a long day like this one, she'd just survived an avalanche.

"It's time to rest," I said gruffly, leading Tanner, with Isana perched on top of him, back across the gate we'd just come though and into the forest-Realm we'd just left. It had seemed quiet enough when we'd run through it, not fiends leaping out of the bushes at us or anything. I led her beast and the woman over to a nearby glen next to a small stream.

This would make an excellent camping spot and I might be able to catch some fish for her to give her protein and help her regain her strength.

"But I can keep going," she said tiredly. "I don't want to fall any farther behind."

"You have no choice," I replied. "If you don't rest now, you'll be in no condition to face the Shadow later, and I need the woman with the binding spell in top form when we do face it. For now, we are a team and both elements of that team need to be in top form."

"Yessir lieutenant sir," she said with weary sarcasm.

She was too tired to crack a joke. She was definitely going to need that protein.

* * *

**it's a short little interim chapter, more a set up for what happens in the next few chapters. I hope you all enjoyed and please remember to reveiw to tell me what you thought.**


	48. Cats and Women

I found what looked like a good place to camp and gathered wood to put in the fire pit, she lit the fire with her strange magic and I used the light from it to set up her tent for her to sleep in. After that I went to go get water and she used that strange mortal world cooking device to make us some of that instant noodle food that Mortals cleverly prepackaged to cook and eat quickly. While she cooked that, I went down to the side of the stream to see if I couldn't find some fish. I wandered up and down stream for a bit, looking for a likely spot, and at last came across a shallow little side-pool of the stream created by a fallen log. It was quiet, and there'd be plenty of things for the fish to eat there, so that's where I would find them. I looked down in the bright moonlight shining into the depths of the relatively quiet water and, sure enough, there were several of them there. I smiled. Dinnertime.

I'd been a kid when I'd first started to learn how to fish, it was a good and easy way to get food in the Rukon District. Over the years I'd gotten better at it. I wouldn't insult my Zanpaktou by using him as a fishing implement

::**_I should hope not_**,:: Babs said with immense dignity.

But even before I'd left Rukongai to join the Soul Reapers, I could tickle a fish. At my current level, two of them should be no problem.

I crouched on the log that hung over in the water and, ever so slowly, put my hands in.

The wind shifted and I could have sworn that I scented something familiar on it. The scent of cat and soul and mischief like a playful summer breeze. I shook my head.

:**_My mind's playin' tricks on me_**,: I thought to myself as I brought my mind back to the matter at hand.

There were three big ones in there and I intended to get them all, I was definitely a two-fish sized man, though I'd share it with the missy if she was hungry enough for it. I slowly slid one hand alongside the fish, then in movement quick as a snake-strike I jerked my two fingers into the hole behind its gills and flipped it up out of the water then moved my hand just as quickly to its neighbor and flipped him up and out to let them both flop around on the bank until they died (or I could get to them and kill them) and then I moved onto the third fellow who was trying to get away. I didn't manage to reach behind his gills, but I sharply caught his tail fins between two fingers and tossed him onto the shore as well.

I rose from the place I'd crouched on top of the log and hopped down to the side of the stream where my catch was flopping around frantically trying not to die. I was about to catch them and put them out of their misery when a shadow darted out of the larger shadows of the night and made off with one of the fish.

"Hey!" I yelped in surprise and irritation.

Some animal, I hadn't seen what it looked like due to the darkness and the fact that it was damned quick, had just made off with one of my fish! I debated going after it, but it had been a long day for me and it was only one fish. The effort wasn't worth it. I needed rest too.

I scooped up the other two floppers and killed them while I thought about maybe pursuing the fish theif, but decided that the loss of one was acceptable. I slit and gutted the remainder of my catch, then found willow sticks to cook them on. I walked back to the nearby camp.

Isana was sitting on a moss-covered rock near the fire, which by this point was going well enough to require larger sized fuel. This time I did put Zabimaru to ignominious use and reduced a larger log to smaller pieces. I set up the fish while she doled out sizable bowls of noodles and more of those grain-bars with fruit in them.

"Thank-you," I said crouching down in front of the fire across from her.

That's when I noticed that her hand was moving strangely, in a smoothing motion along her lap. I squinted across the fire and saw a black shadowy shape lying in a puddle in her lap. A shape that was holding onto my fish!

"Hey!" I said rising abruptly to my feet and glaring across the fire.

There was an animal in her lap being petted like some kind of lap-dog and it was eating my fish!

"You're the little beast that stole my fish!" I said furiously, pointing at it.

The furball (it looked feline, but given all of the weird creatures I had encountered in this trip across the Dangai, what it really was was anyone's guess what it really might be!) looked up at me from the protection of Isana's good graces with a haughty stare.

I was about to say something about it being added to the menu when the wind was abruptly taken out of my sails.

"Honestly Renji," a familiar masculine voice emerged from the... yes it was _definitely _a cat. (Most of the time anyway.)

"You caught three of them, the least you could do was share one of them with an old friend."

It was not just any cat but-

"Y-Y..." I said.

I literally could not speak around the sense of overjoyed elation that welled up within me. I flashed across the fire and scooped the little furball up from Isana's lap.

"_Y-Yoruichi_!" I crowed.

I held her up and twirled her around for joy.

"It's you! I'm so happy to see you, you have _no _idea!"

I pulled her in and kissed liberally distributed kisses to the top of her head like anyone would a beloved pet that had been lost and was now found.

"Kiss the kitty!" I shouted, laughing in relief and giving her more kisses, while hugging her tight.

I wasn't alone anymore!

"Alright already! Put me down you oaf, or at least let me change forms so you can kiss me properly!" the cat snapped at me.

I quickly and obdiently put her back in the grass.

"Yoruichi, how did you get here?" I asked as soon as I'd caught my breath.

She preened a paw for a long moment, exuding kitty-smugness as she did so. She eyed the fish that she'd been eating that I'd carelessly dropped. I took the hint and presented it to her. she cleared her throat and flexed a claw. I promptly gutted it and threw the offal into the fire, then descaled it and served it to her on a plate.

"That's better," she replied when this was done.

I was a slave to women. Any woman in my life could just own me. I might as well walk around with a sign on my back that said woman-slave.

"As for how I got here," she said in her masculine-sounding voice that was strangely what her voice turned into when she took cat form.

"Well, Uruhara would be the first to tell you that when I chose to run to the Mortal Realm, I didn't really make much of a habit of sticking around the shop with all the other exiles,' Yoruichi explained. "I wandered around, naturally. Eventually I stumbled across these Realms here in the Dangai. I hadn't mentioned them until now because..."

She fave a smug little secretive feline smile.

"Cats and women shall do as they please, _and _keep thier secrets. But when we got that letter about you, I decided that a little more investigation was in order. I have more contacts in the Divine Realms than you do so I was well on my way to finding out more about these Shadows when I happened to scent you nearby, pursuing your own Shadow."

"Am I ever glad to see you!' I said.

I rummaged through a side-bad in Tanner's saddle and pulled out my messy and maltreated sheafs of paper that I had conscientiously written my reports on. They were all folded up and tied with a string, stacked in chronological order by the date written.

"Here," I said, handing them to her. "I can't get back to my Captain, for obvious reasons, so I'd be in your debt if you'd find a way to get these to him."

Yoruichi looked up from her fish to the packet of reports I was trying to get her to deliver for me and promptly laughed.

"What's so funny?" I demanded, a little irritated.

One or two little laughs might have been understandable I guess, but the cat was enjoying a full-bellyed rolling laugh that was going to have her choking on her dinner if she wasn't careful.

"My, my, how droll," she said, sounding just tickled pink. "Has the boy ever got you _trained_! And here Rukia thought you'd never be house-broken... Just look at you, you could be off on a vaction and yet you're still working for him. How conscientious of you."

She laughed again and I resisted the urge to see if I could catch her and wring her neck.

"Renji..." Isana said, tapping me on the shoulder.

I looked over at her and she gazed back at me, solemn-eyed.

"Renji, I just heard that cat talk," she informed me.

"Yeah, it's Yoruichi," I said. "She does that."

"I... see..." she said faintly.

Isana went back to her rock and sat down, clearly trying to act tlike all of this was normal for her.

Yoruichi suddenly seemed very interested in Isana. The cat scrutinized the woman very closely with her golden unblinking gaze and after a long moment she turned to me.

"Is that who I _think _it is?" she asked calmly.

"I can neither confirm nor deny," I said quickly and carefully. "You know as well as I do that that's not the way it works."

There was a long silence in which I waited to see what the capricious woman would do and Isana looked back and forth between the two of us, clearly wondering what was up.

"It's your choice of, course, and I won't say its the wrong one... but are you planning on keeping it from _her _too?"

"From both of them," I said shortly, all but confirming her guess.

We were deliberately keeping it vague to keep the mortal out of the loop. It was bad enough Isana was in this mess in the first place, we didn't needed her being dragged even further into Soul Reaper business.

"Really? I wonder..." Yoruichi said. "I don't know that you'd be able to keep a secret from them. We both know how intimidating _he _can get without even trying, and you've always had a soft spot for _her_. All she'd have to do is bat her big blue eyes at you and you'll tell her everything she wants to know."

"Not everything," I defended. "I've been keeping a real doozey from her for decades. Besides, what are the odds they'd ask? As long as you don't say anything, no-one has to know. Better this way."

The cat, finished with her meal, got up and arched her back in a stretch and leaped lightly up onto Isana's lap for more scratches.

"Behind the ears dear, if you don't mind," Yoruichi said.

Isana blinked at teh kitty and obediently started to scratch. Yoruichi purred.

* * *

**It's Yoruichi! The story can now commence.**


	49. Messenger

"So will you take it back to the Seireitei?" I pursued. "I can't leave the trail once I'm on it or I'll loose it. You're my last best hope of getting my reports to my Captain."

"I'm not a messenger service," she said in a bored tone, licking a paw.

"I'd make it worth your while," I wheedled.

Typical of most women, she was holding out for the goods and we both knew it.

"How so?" she asked idly, leaning her head into a particularly on-the-spot scratch.

"There could be a nice kitty toy in it for you," I teased. "Something with catnip in it."

"Funny, mister," she growled at me.

She unsheathed some of her claws and looked at my narrowly. I just grinned back at her.

"Okay okay," I said. "I don't have anything on me besides the presents I got for my buddies-"

"Did you get Rukia a present?" the cat asked archly.

I could just hear the amusement in her voice. Typical cat, she knows all about my one-sided pathetic-ness and only finds it fun to poke fun at me about it.

I grumbled a bit under my breath, the heat in my face saying it all. It had been the best one of the lot. I scratched the back of my head and in the process, I accidentally pulled free of my shirt my Heartsblood diamond, the glowing, pulsing, indigo, trillion-cut gemstone set in white gold to resemble Zabimaru flashed in the firelight, shining with its own light. The cat's eyes caught and centered in on it.

"Where did you get that?" she asked urgently.

I swiftly stuffed it back inside my shirt.

"You can have anything but _that_!" I said quickly.

No way was I giving her (if the Old Woman of the Mountain was to be believed) the heart and core of my personal power. It would give her absolute power and control over me, and to me, it was already bad enough that I was under the thrall of one woman, without adding another one to the mix.

"I should say so," Yoruichi said seriously. "Do you realize what you've done? That stone around your neck could un-do _you_!"

"They explained it to me," I said uneasily. "After the fact."

"I think you had better tell me what happened, and don't leave anything out. Start with you encounter with the Shadows and go from there."

I had heard that Yoruichi Shihouin had been top-tier nobility at one point, and most days you wouldn't know it, but there were some times when her Manner-Born blue-bloodedness came poking out. That peremptory tone of hers...

"It's mostly here in the reports," I said evasively. "Ya can read those if ya want, but I'm kinda tired of tellin' it."

"Mostly?" Yoruichi sprang. "But not entirely. What are you leaving out?"

Zabimaru, my personal Realm that I'd conquered from Katschei, who Isana really was, Zabimaru's other form, the new abilities I was learning from him, my recent mastery of kido... Come to think of it, I was starting to keep a lot more under the roses than I had ever bothered to before.

"That's between me an' my sword," I said firmly. "I'm askin' ya as a friend, can ya help me out?"

"I'll help," she said slyly. "But you owe me."

"Fair enough," I said.

I was leery about owing a favor to Yoruichi, she was a capricious and troublesome woman and who knew _what _kind of mischief she'd use the marker for, but all in all, I'd consider whatever she asked me to do a small price to pay for peace of mind.

"I just don't see why you didn't come to us in the first place," she grumbled a little. "We'd have helped you out, you know."

"I felt my reasons were good ones at the time," I replied. "Although, later on, once I was in it, I regretted not being thorough, but I just didn't want to drag everyone into my mess, especially if the Punishment squad came after me.'

"Punishment Squad, feh!" Yoruichi said scornfully. "Most of those fighters are practically still in diapers compared to me."

She gave a distainful little sniff and looked at me squarely.

"Are you _sure _this wasn't some kind of male pride thing? It had better not be... Rukia has been worried sick. We get one hastily-written letter penned on the back of a train brochure mailed to us in a stupid code telling us you've been turned mortal by an enemy no-one's ever really seen or heard of before. You go mysteriously missing from the Seireitei, and no-one knows where you are or how to find you. Have you _no _consideration at all for the people you leave behind to go galavanting off with some mortal woman-"

"I couldn't help it!" I protested, gesturing to the metal studded collar fastened around my neck.

"I gave my word and I'm bound under Geas by a powerful Earth Spirit to her will until my task is done. Besides, as for the enemy... without that Shadow, bound up and contained, I have no proof that they even exist. If I have no proof to clear my name with, the Seireitei might just decide to execute me."

"Compelling, but you _still _could have come to us for help Renji," Yoruichi replied.

"And I was not gallivanting," I grumbled.

Yoruichi flowed down from Isana's lap and padded over to me to look more closely at the collar around my neck.

"That's a powerful spell alright," she said after a long moment. "More powerful than a mortal, or even a fairly high-level Soul Reaper should be capable of."

"The Believed are a league of their own," I muttered.

Yoruichi looked over at Isana with a long and unwavering look. After a very long moment Isana inquired

"What?"

"I'm wondering," Yoruichi said very slowly and carefully. "Exactly what kind of woman you are that you would bind a person against their will to take you as an additional burden into an already dangerous situation and risk his life further, as well as your own, by doing so."

"I am a mother," Isana answered with quiet dignity. "I will do what I must to keep my boy from harm."

Yoruichi weighed and measured Isana for a moment longer and then turned to me, flicking one ear to the side to dismiss Isana as a concern, and continuing her previous track

"All I'm saying is that when you get back, be prepared to hear it._ Himself_ is very much _not _pleased with his errant Lieutenant for flittering off without orders to do so, and the fact that his little sister is so distressed is not helping matters any either. Rukia..."

"Is she really mad?" I asked anxiously.

I could handle the Kuchiki lecturing me, I'd take whatever punitive chores or work he gave to me, I'd even be willing to take a demotion if that was what he felt I deserved... I was not willing to have Rukia mad at me.

"She's pissed," Yoruichi replied.

My heart sank. I _knew _Rukia; that girl could hold a grudge like no-one else. She was one of those types that held a lot in under the surface, but when it boiled up, watch out. I was going to have to do a lot of groveling to get back into her good graces. It wouldn't matter to her whether it was my fault or not, I'd done it and that was enough for her. It wasn't fair but I'd learned that that didn't matter either.

I sighed, I'd have to find some better presents for her on my way back. I could start with a letter, she'd probably rip it up, but if I explained about the situation it might soften her up enough to be reasonable... later on. A _lot _later on.

"There is one factor that is working in your favor however," Yoruichi said. "The same night you disappeared, Kuukaku Shiba, who hasn't stepped a toe inside the Seireitei in decades, if not centuries, went and visited the Kuchiki Estate and requested to speak with Byakuya and Rukia Kuchiki. Rukia said to Ichigo who told to Uruhara who said to me that Kuukaku Shiba told them of the encounter with the Shadow and of your valiant defense of her person and the children, and that you had disappeared."

"You mean," I said, hardly daring to hope. "I could go back and they won't throw me in the tower and have me executed?"

"Executed?" Isana yelped, staring at me.

I hadn't really mentioned that bit. We ignored her.

"Most people think that the letter is an elaborate hoax,"Yoruichi said, shaking her head in negation. "Or something you're doing to keep from being arrested. The Shiba's were once one of the Four Noble Families, but they've fallen out of favor in recent centuries. I'm afraid they're considered so eccentric now that their word doesn't carry much weight."

"And the Captain?" I questioned next with a vanishing sense of hope.

"You know him," she said. "He'll wait until all the facts have been laid out and then make his judgment of the situation."

So, probably no help from that corner then.

"Do you think he believes Shiba?" I asked next.

"I think he believes something happened, and I think he knows you well enough to realize that what ever is dragging you away from your duties in Sixth must be important, mainly because I think he knows that you wouldn't risk making both him and Rukia angry if it wasn't important."

Boy was that ever true.

"What do you mean executed?" Isana interjected into our conversation.

"I guess I still need that proof then," I said, crestfallen. "I'll still ask you to send those reports back and... could you wait a bit while I finish off a letter?"

I was mostly caught up on Rukia's letter, I just had the events that had happened that day to report on to the both of them.

"You never said anything about being executed!" Isana exclaimed.

"It's not a problem,"Yoruichi said, still ignoring Isana. "I take it you're resting here before continuing on your way?"

"We sorta have to," I said, shrugging. "We're both about done in."

Isana had clearly had enough of being treated like furniture for she abruptly started up to her feet and gathered in her power, glowering at me. The fire in the fire-pit flared up with her temper.

"Down Renji!" Isana shoved a magic-command into my collar and I was jerked downward. My chin bit the ground and I glared up at her, snarling.

"Now that I have your attention," she said with a sharp and irritated smile. "You never said anything about them killing you when you said they'd arrest you."

I should have known I couldn't keep it from her forever, but I thought I'd have been able to keep it from her long enough. isana was surprisingly tough, and I'd learned she was protective as well... she might not be willing to just let me up and get myself killed on principle.

"There are some crimes in the Seireitei that are considered capitol," I informed her reluctantly. "Giving your power to a mortal is one of them. The last time that happened, she was trapped in her gigai while her spiritual powers recovered and that's how we found her. If I show up in a mortal body with no proof to back up any of my wild claims... given everything that's happened in the past year or so, it's most likely they'll assume the worst and lock me up. Plus there's the fact that I've been AWOL for weeks, they'll probably assume that I was just trying to avoid being arrested."

"You can"t go back then," Isana said firmly.

It looked like she'd already decided for me. I wasn't having any of that. It was bad enough that I was bound to serve and protect this woman by a spell, I wasn't going to let her dictate to me whether or not I took responsibilty for myself. No-one could take that away from me.

"One way or another, I'm going to," I replied bluntly.

And nothing was going to convince me otherwise.

"But what if they decide that you're making it up? You could be killed."

"I might be exonerated," I said hopefully.

If we weren't in the middle of a war and they weren't seeing traitors under thier beds, I might be exonerated. As it stood, the odds were not looking good for me.

"I... I won't let you go," Isana said firmly.

Oddly though, her voice was shaking. I looked over at her and frowned. What the heck was up with _her_? I was just her bodyguard, she seemed perfectly willing enough to let me risk my neck so she could get her son back, and I sorta admired her for that, but any decision beyond that point wasn't any of her concern.

"By the time it becomes an issue," I told her, a bit of steel in my voice. "It won't have anything to do with you."

"The hell it won't!" she yelled back at me.

It looked like she was getting worked up over it and I got an uneasy feeling about that. She looked _really _upset and I wasn't sure why. It made me nervous.

"I'm not just going to let you run off and hand yourself over to be killed, forget it!" she exclaimed, starting to her feet and pacing frantically in front of the fire.

It seemed that she was really working herself up about this.

"Look," I said, trying to calm her down a bit. "I'm still going to get your son back for you and get you back to the Mortal Realm, just like I promised. You have nothing to worry about."

"I wasn't worried about anything until you told me that if you go back you'll be killed!" she snapped at me. "And now you tell me that once you're done helping me out and I release you from the spell you're going to turn around and go be executed. Well, mister you can forget about it. I'm not going to let you. I'll keep that spell on you if that's what it takes but I won't let you go to die."

"That's not your decision to make, and you _promised_," I growled at her.

I was on my feet and across the fire, looming over her threateningly. My reiatsu was suddenly a thick cloud in the air and she leaned away, her eyes wide and a little frightened looking by the sudden intensity.

"I _will _hold you to that promise," I said, my voice low and menacing.

I'd let her get away with some things, but I wasn't about to let some mortal woman I barely knew dictate my life to me. I wasn't going to let her chain me in her front yard like some pet dog. And I definitely wouldn't let her keep me away from Rukia. If going back to the Soul Society and getting killed was the only way I could see Rukia again then so be it, that was what I would do. I wasn't going to tuck my tail and run away like a coward.

"Y-you can't make me," she said tremulously.

She was shaking a bit, possibly because she'd seen me in action and she knew I was dangerous. Each of her Guardian Spirits in her arsenal had been defeated by me before they'd sworn loyalty to her.

"I don't think you want to test that," I said, my voice low and steady.

Part of it was a bluff. She was so tiny, and she looked so much like Rukia, I knew deep down that i wouldn't be able to lay a finger on her... but i certainly wasn't above slinging her over my shoulder, taking her back to my superiors and letting them deal with the problem. If nothing else, I'd at least get this damned collar off my neck.

Bluff or not, neither of us was backing down. I topped her by a good foot and a half, so when I loomed over her threateningly, it had to be to good effect. To give her credit... she knew how dangerous I was. She'd seen me fight and she knew I could take her and her Guardian Spirits out in under a blink, but she stood her ground. She stared steadily back at me, not glaring but not giving up either. I flared out a bit more of my reiatsu, testing her resolve, and she flinched a bit but still didn't give in. I wasn't going to give in either, this was my life and my choice. It didn't matter whether or not she felt it was for my own good, I was not going to tamely let her lead me around by the nose.

"Okay children," Yoruichi's voice broke the impasse. "Am I going to have to separate you two?"

"You may have to hold me back," I growled.

"I'm not going to let you go get yourself killed over some stupid principle," Isana said. "I'll tie you up and throw you in the closet first."

Yoruichi chuckled and said

"To a guy like him, that wouldn't make any difference anyway, and what is it with you mortals and closets? Besides, it's not your place to decide these things. Renji has gone out of his way to honor his word to you, even though he gave it under duress, which, by Soul Reaper law makes it invalid... actually, Soul Reaper law states that he doesn't have any right to give his word to a mortal in the first place since interferring in mortal affairs is not part of a Soul Reapers job so technically, you've already compromised his integrity."

"He was mortal when he gave it," Isana countered swiftly.

Geeze, the woman was quick, she could find a possible loophole to exploit faster than any modern lawyer could. No wonder Kuchiki had been so quick to marry her, if anyone could help him tap-dance around all those rules it would be her.

"My point is that Renji has acted honorably, it reflects badly on you that you want to betray that trust by keeping him with you."

"I'll betray whatever trust I have to if it means saving his life," Isana said adamantly. "I don't care how badly it reflects on me, he's saved my life so many times, I'm not going to just let him run off to die."

"It's noble of you to be so concerned for him, but you can't run his life for him," Yoruichi pointed out logically. "Renji makes his own decisions, if you try to get in the way of that, most likely he'll treat you as an obstacle. Do you know what he does to obstacles?"

Isana nodded. She'd seen me smash, slice and barrel my way through enough of them that she knew exactly what I did to obstacles.

"Good, then lets have no more of this. Be content that he is willing to go along with you enough that he will rescue your son with you and take you back to your home safely. He's actually risking his career for you and your child, so at least try to act a little grateful."

Isana bowed her head a bit, I could sorta tell by the set of her shoulders that she was feeling anything but grateful right then and what she really wanted to say was "fuck you" but she bowed instead and said in a level controlled tone

"I apologize for my rudeness."

"Uh, yeah," I said a little stiffly.

I could smell the resentment coming off from her but I didn't really know what to do about it. I wasn't giving in so we were stuck that way.

"Good, now that that's settled..." Yoruichi finished off the last of the fish.

I pulled out my packet and added the latest onto my report to the captain. On the end I told him that even with Yoruichi volunteering to help out I still couldn't turn away from the opperation so if he had any orders for me, aside of 'return to base,' he should write them down and send them along.

My letter to Rukia was, as usual, a little more difficult. Part of me wanted to apologize to her for worrying her but at the same time it wasn't like I could help it, and I didn't think she'd be willing to accept it if I did apologize, so I told her that I was going to do my best to get the mess straightened out and come back to see her soon.

I improvised an amusing-looking set of kitty-saddlebags consisting of the two packets of mail and a long scarf around Yoruichi's kitty form and we flashed over to the nearest World Gate.

"Wait here for me and rest up with the woman," Yoruichi said. "I'll return by morning and we can be on our way tracking down that Shadow of yours."

"Thanks a lot for doing this for me Yoruichi," I said gratefully.

"You owe me," she replied easily.

She activated the Gate and scampered through it and then I headed back to camp.

"I'm going to bed," Isana said in a stiff little tone.

She still was not happy with me. That was fine for now, we'd settle this out later. For now, this mortal body of mine was about wiped out and I needed to rest.

"Good night then," was all I said.

* * *

I'd say cat fight, except in this case the cat stayed mostly out of it, except to finish it. I hope you all enjoyed and its nice to see some new readers dropping lines. Please reveiw and tell me what you think.


	50. Letters From Home

My internal alarm clock had me awake as the sky was lightening towards dawn. This strange world of ours had two suns and more than one moon, and one of those moons had a ring around it. I pulled out that crystal memory recorder I'd bought in the Elven Market and activated it, panning it out over the sky and capturing the images in the crystal sphere. Some of this stuff would probably have to be seen to be believed. I didn't waste much time on it, but I did get some neat shots of that world's weird-looking moons and the fact that it had two suns peeking up over the horizon. It sure made for a pretty sunrise anyway.

I left it to record the sunrise while I busied about preparing the camp. I fetched water and built up the fire, then... it was me-time.

I started with the usual warm-ups and stretches, then went into my limbering exercises. Even though it sounded kinda wussy, those yoga poses really helped me keep flexible, a flexible fighter was a guy who was in complete control of his whole body and could get it to do whatever he wanted it to. That was my thought anyway, in all of my years of fighting, I'd only not been able to make my body do what I wanted it to _once _and that was during the fight with Ichigo Kurosaki. Truth to tell, I didn't dislike the morning routine either. I felt good when I went through it, better, and it let me sorta get my head on straight before I had ta face the day.

After warming up and stretching I always practiced with Zabimaru. The missy had a bit of a penchant for sleepin' in, so that was when I got in my morning practice time. If this were the Seireitei, I'd usually do this in my own quarters after I cleared out the bedding. Zabimaru's howl-form was different to work with, but I wasn't doing so badly with it, and it didn't require a full-training court to work with, though swinging him around indoors would probably not be a very good idea. I usually did my morning sword practice with him unshikaied.

I was past the combo reps and well into my sixth form when I sensed the reiatsu of Yoruichi returning from the Seireitei. By this time I was warmed enough to where my shirt was off as I ran through my sword movements. I didn't pause from my form, moving directly from Buddha's Warrior Attendant Sands The Floor, to Crane Spreads Wings, without breaking my concentration.

"What's the word?" I asked her as I moved into Tall Man On Horse.

Yoruichi didn't answer directly, she leaped lightly onto a nearby log and set down a scroll-case she had been carrying in her mouth and preened her fur a bit then watched me for a few long moments. I tried not to feel self-conscious about having someone watch me go through my morning routine. I mentally blocked her wide unblinking eyes out as I finished off the last movements of the sixth form and moved onto the seventh.

The forms were requiring more of my concentration than usual lately and not because the sword was different. Zabimaru had taken my training wheels off and now he wouldn't let me seal away my reiastu behind my binding marks anymore. He had me unlock up to the first three chakra and move through the forms, pushing and pulling at my reiatsu to get it flowing evenly throughout my body. It was a lot harder than it looked. That stuff tended to flare and pop and fizzle within me in startling ways. It pushed and pulled and tried to go its own way, like lava in a volcano, sometimes. It wanted out and didn't really seem to want to do as I asked of it.

The movements of the forms helped quite a bit actually. They were very familiar to me, seeing as I had done them just about every day for the last forty years or so. That familiarity, and Zabimaru there in my hands (even if he was shaped a bit differently from what I was used to), gave me a little extra confidence when taking on that pernicious reiatsu of mine. It was still inclined to push and flare up in unpredictable ways, but I was getting better at pulling it in and sending it singing along my meridians the way it was supposed to be. I could sort of sense that Zabimaru was trying to teach me to gain control of that reiatsu the same way I had control over my body, but it was slow going. By the end of the sixth form I was covered in a light sheen of sweat from playing a strange sort of "whack-a-mole" with my internal energy.

"You move your spiritual energy like a baby who's just started learning," Yoruichi noted. "But your reiatsu feels very different. I noticed it last night, but I thought that it was perhaps something that had happened to you when you turned mortal. Byakuya-kun told me that it had begun to change a bit even before you left... but that you were not discussing it with him."

Her tone sounded a bit disapproving.

"It's between me an' Zabimaru," I said shortly. "It's got nuthin' ta do with him."

"I think you are doing yourself and your captain a grave disservice by not requesting his assistance in this."

I looked over at her incredulously. What in this world or any other would _possibly _say that I'd go to Captain Byakuya Kuchiki, my main rival and the man I seriously wanted to lay the smack-down on, for help? Was she nuts? Did she not see that if I went running to him for help, he'd be able to learn how I fought and thus have an easier time defeating me when I eventually did turn at bay to challenge him? Duh.

"Ugh! You and your stupid male pride!" Yoruichi said scornfully.

"Zabimaru ain't got a problem with it," I said defensively.

"Zabimaru is as bad as you are I'm sure," Yoruichi said with a disdainful little sniff. "It's probably one reason why you two get along so well."

Before I could say anything to that she continued

"Your reiatsu has a far greater density to it than it did before. Renji... keeping secrets isn't like you, you're the most direct person I know. So why don't you trust us anymore?"

"It's not that I don't trust you," I said, flowing down to a sitting position to do cool down stretches. "The Captain and I have our differences when it comes to us as men, of course, but I like to think that I make him a good Lieutenant."

I _tried _to anyways. He expected a lot out of the person who would be his second in command, he didn't come right out and say it but the almost infamous turn-over rate that had characterized his long stint in office as Captain of Sixth attested to the long, long laundry list of attributes he expected of his prospective direct subordinate. Most guys were out of the office of his Vice-Captaincy in weeks if not days. I kinda wondered what he was doing keeping me there, unless it was pure sadism on his part. I'd defied him and turned my back on the Seireitei to save Rukia's life, I'd been expecting to be demoted but he didn't really say anything about it, though I'd heard that he'd had to let himself be convinced not to fire me.

"What does that have to do with why you didn't come to your friends when you got into trouble?" Yoruichi demanded.

"Well you know what a stickler for the rules the Captain is, he _hasta _be 'cuz he's Kuchiki, I jus' didn't wanna get you an' everyone else in hot water for sumthin' that happened ta me that I could take care of myself. I figured I'd do for myself until I could do anything more and then I'd drag you inta my mess if I didn't have any other choice. Besides that, I kinda got collared by the missy in there and then I was stuck for it. In my case, the only way out is through. I get her and her kid back to the Mortal Realm safe an' sound, I erase her memory so she doesn't remember what happened, no harm no foul... I get that proof an' maybe they'll listen ta me."

"Kisuke is worried that just killing the Shadow that made you mortal is not going to be enough. He's afraid that, because of the nature of the Spirit Being that turned you, the change may be a little more permanent than you're hoping for."

"Whacha mean, permanent?" I demanded suspiciously.

She couldn't mean, _permanent_, permanent, could she? There was just no-way! There was no way I was going to stay trapped inside this damn mortal shell to grow old and die like I was some kinda mortal! I was a Soul Reaper dammit!

"Well, you have to admit that the situation has never come up before, I mean the reverse has happened obviously but the closest we've ever come to a Soul Reaper becoming something other than a Soul Reaper is what happened with the Vizards."

"Vizards?" I questioned, not quite getting the reference.

"They showed up with a grudge against Aizen in the Winter War, remember? They helped fight the arrancars."

I thought about it and then vaguely recalled the group, they'd had Hollow masks. I'd never interacted with any of them personally, but I'd seen them across the battlefield, they hadn't seemed very happy to be there fighting alongside us. They certainly hadn't liked Old Man Yama, that was fer sure. I thought of them more as being ichigo's allies than mine, but i could see that Yoruichi would feel closer ties to them than me.

"So far as I or Kisuke can gather, there's never been a precedent for a Soul Reaper being turned true Mortal, but still retaining all of his powers."

"Great," I muttered. "Let's hear it for originality."

Then I perked up, having had a thought

"Hey, since I have all my powers, they're not gonna execute me right? I mean, it's giving my powers away that is the capitol offense but I can just show 'em Zabimaru and they'll be able to see for themselves that I'm not guilty."

"Instead, they'll probably hand you over to Captain Kurotsuchi and the Twelfth Division to... _**probe **your unique situation_," Yoruichi said, flicking her ears back.

I'd never actually felt the blood drain from my face before, but I swear I felt it turn cold in my veins.

"I'm... I'm... I'm _not _cool with that," I managed, actually feeling sick with dread by the thought.

"I didn't think you would be. But cheer up Renji... you've got mail!"

She flicked the scroll tube over at me and I caught it before it could hit me in the forehead. I uncapped the end and then pulled out the paper. There were several missives inside, most of which I recognized as bearing the watermark that Kuchiki used for his own correspondence. I broke the seal on the first of them.

**_To Lieutenant Renji Abarai of Sixth Squadron_**

**_It has come to my attention that you have been rather more thorough in the carrying out of my orders to investigate the matter of the disappearances in the Rukongai than you had originally anticipated, while I find your increased work ethic commendable lieutenant, let it not be done at the inconvenience of your Captain, who has had to find inadequate temporary replacements to fulfill your duties. In addition, the workspace on your desk has become overfilled with the paperwork that is your due piling up on top of itself._**

"Aw c'mon Captain, didja _have _ta leave it all fer me?" I muttered.

He coulda' done some of it. Or ordered the Third Seat ta do it, he didn't have ta leave it there.

**_If the unstable piles become a hazard in the workplace I will further dock your pay... I have already retained your funds for the time you have spent on an unauthorized field excursion_**.

"He docked my pay? that's so not fair!" I howled in outrage.

**_I have received your reports however and will be presenting the (uncorroborated) evidence of a new threat to the Seireitei in the next Captains meeting where it will most likely be handed off to the proper squadron to investigate it. As to your claim, corroborated only by the renegade Yoruichi Shihouin, and by Kuukaku Shiba, head of House Shiba, of certain difficulties with regards to your person... I know you to be an honest man, if not entirely bright, but I am disappointed that you did not feel that the institute of the Soul Society was trustworthy enough to handle the matter adequately._**

I didn't want to be Kuro-kooky's new laboratory experiment if _that _was what he was getting at. Of _course _I buggered off. What the heck did he think I was gonna do, stick around and let them stick me with needles and probes?

**_However, in light of circumstances beyond your control, or anyone's ability to anticipate, it seems that you will be forgiven your temporary defection. The field reports received by... courier... are testament enough to your acting in good faith and with the interests of your Squad and its Captain in mind._**

"Really?" I said, startling in surprise and unable to believe my good luck. He was gonna let me off the hook that easy?

**_You will be expected to rewrite them upon your return, on Squad-authorized report paper and in legible handwriting this time._**

The man just could _not _cut me a break. I was going to pretend that I wasn't smiling in relief.

_**Clearly it has been so long since you have actually written out a field report that you have forgotten a number of protocols that go along with writing the field report. Upon your return you shall reserve some time and we shall revisit the manual on Official Procedure. At length. I, of course, will be on hand to point out my errant Lieutenant's errors and to expound upon the necessary details.**_

In short, I was gonna hear it.

_**As to your request for further orders, it would prove most useful if you could see your way to gathering physical evidence to prove your claims of this Shadow threat, as uncorroborated hearsay, even from several sources, is inadequate at the present time. In addition, you voiced a concern in your letters to the younger Kuchiki that showed up no-where at all in any of the reports you sent to your Captain-**_

"Hey!" I yelped aloud in indignation. I had written those letters to Rukia, not to him, he shouldn't go around reading other peoples mail. It was rude.

_**While I can understand your reticence, as the concerns were merely speculation rather than fact, in view of recent events it would perhaps be better for you to also include your own conclusions in future reports. You shall place them in a separate report of your courtesy.**_

I wasn't quite sure what to make of that.

_**In the search for objective accuracy in a field report it is important to isolate and erradicate bias so as the arrive at a report that is the distillation of careful reason rather than conjecture. It is easy to dismiss a soldier's reading of the field and situation as mere nerves or anxiety, one forgets after a while that soldier's trust their instincts and that those instincts themselves are often the result of unconscious intuitive leaps in logic, the reading and connecting of thousands of disparate clues, clues that the soldier themselves might not have been consciously aware of noticing.**_

I guess I hadn't really thought of it that way, but yeah, I guessed i could see where he was coming from with this.

_**It is well that you confided your concerns to my sister, and equally well that she thought enough of them to bring them to me.**_

That had to have been a fun and interesting meeting. I wondered what he made of all the sketches I'd sent back to her. Isana, of course, was featured no-where in any of the drawings, they were mostly of Gates, their node designs, and the strange creatures that I'd met and fought along the way. Djinn, Crusher, Carbuncle and Shivna-Vatu were there of course along with small sketches of many of the weirdlings I'd introduced to Zabimaru (with fatal results for them). There were three full-page, detailed sketches of Genbu, Firebird, and Old Woman of the Mountain respectively and a smaller one of Katschei the Deathless and his enormous castle full of... stuff. I knew how much Rukia liked artwork, and the sketching made it easier for me to write to her. After all, as they said a picture is worth a thousand words.

_**Do continue with your reading of the situation in the future. It may be that your concerns are nothing more than a reaction to the irregularity and sudden strangeness of your new situation... but it may also **not **be so. Let us hope it is the latter rather than the former. Yoruichi has agreed to bring any additional reports back to me as the situation allows. You shall return for a full debeifing once your evidence is gathered and you are released from your (slightly illegal, very much coerced) vow to the mortal to return her and her son to the mortal realm. Sixth Squadron is known for its honor and integrity, see that you remain a testament to that honor Lieutenant Abarai.**_

_**By my hand,**_

_**Byakuya Kuchiki, Captain of Sixth Squad.**_

Well! That had been... rather more even-handed than I had been expecting from the Captain. Was he mellowing in his old age?

The next letter featured Rukia's elegant and flowing script on the outside. Very much fearing what I might find inside of it, I cautiously broke the seal and unrolled the scroll.

_**DIE! RENJI! DIIIIEEEE!**_

And it had little cartoon drawings of red-haired doggies, bearing a suspicious resemblance to me, being murdered in nasty ways, most often by little cartoon bunnies. It should have been cute but it was a little disturbing because of that The script was written in bold furious brushstrokes and took up most of the page.

Whoa. Somebody was upset. I hoped she didn't actually mean it because dying in this mortal body carried with it the possible consequence of that death putting me back into the wheel of death and rebirth.

I put away the scroll feeling sad about it.

:_At least she bothered to write me at all_,: I tried to console myself.

I couldn't help the glum feeling in my chest however. Feeling less than enthusiastic I broke the seal on the next scroll. The letter it contained was closer to a note, and hastily written, but it contained unmistakably the neat, precise, but somewhat cramped handwriting of Kira Izuru.

**_Renji,_** it said

_**I was surprised to receive a visit from Rukia Kuchiki and she was good enough to inform me of your... extended field mission, though she requested that Momo and I keep the details to ourselves until the Captain's meeting. If you need anything from me, let me know. I must make this short, but I wanted you to know that we're both really glad you're safe. Though good luck getting your girl Rukia to calm down, that woman is in quite a snit over the fact that you didn't come running to her and her Mortal friends when you got into a jam. Momo and I both understand why you didn't. From the little I've heard around there's a general aura of disbelief from anyone you could think of to ask that Renji Abarai would ever abandon anyone or defect to the other side, most people seem to be of the opinion that Kuchiki just has you out on a secret mission somewhere doing training or gathering information. The last thing that anyone knew, you had been asking around to various Captains and Lieutenants about something you were investigating, most people believe Kuchiki has you doing that and simply has chosen not to reveal his plans for you. Well, I hope you're well, and that you come back soon. You know how Momo worries. Good luck.**_

_**Kira Izuru.**_

I couldn't help smiling at the letter. It was good to have friends. I hadn't realized how alone and isolated I'd felt until I'd gotten the letters from them. I might be a solitary warrior when I fought, but I was very much a social creature. I was not accustomed to being completely by myself and never had been accustomed to it. I _liked _being surrounded by people, I _liked _having people near me to laugh and fight and interact with. I probably always would.

The next scroll I opened was in Momo's loopy, very feminine hand. The woman dotted most of her i's with hearts.

_**Renji,**_

_**Kira didn't have the guts to ask, but since I'm a girl, I went ahead and asked to read your letter to Rukia (I hope you don't mind). Your pictures are as good as ever and how come you never told her that you could draw? She seemed very surprised to learn about it... I showed her that picture in the frame you drew for me when I got lieutenant a few years back, the one with me sitting on top of that big mountain, and she said that she'd never seen you draw anything before.**_

Well, yeah. In Rukongai paper was an expensive comodity, and not something that a penniless kid would come across. When I was in the academy I discovered I had that sort of talent but I'd always been too busy with my schoolwork to waste much time on it. It was only after I'd graduated and started taking on missions that I'd really started to develop my talent. At first it had just been a way to pass time in between lulls in the missions, only later as I got better at it, did it start to become an end to itself.

_**Anyway, boy is she ever mad at you. I don't think its very fair of her, I mean, its not like she came running to you when she got into a scrape in the mortal world so I don't see why she should get her tail in a knot about you not coming to her with your own troubles. Add to that the fact that she spends more time with the subsitute than she does at home... oh, you probably don't know do you? I guess it's good news, well good for you anyway. Rukia and Ichigo broke up.**_

I stopped dead and stared at the line, unable to believe it. What? Really? Oh no, hope was blossoming in my chest again, this couldn't be good.

I re-read the line and then eagerly moved on. Count on Momo to give me the details I wanted to know.

_**Rukia and Ichigo broke up. I heard it was a mutual thing, though no-one is really talking about it much. Rukia seems embarrassed by it all. Apparently she's been on the outs with the Kuchiki Elders for a while now, and seeing the boy's family all eating around the dinner table together made her realize that that was what she was looking for in a family. I guess she must've realized that she was projecting her desire for a family onto him, since she spent so much time around him and his family. Oh, Rangiku may have let slip to me (accidentally-on-pirpose I'm sure) that the two of them tried kissing (Rukia and Ichigo, I mean).**_

Oh, great. I so would have been much happier not knowing that.

_**Ran said that Rukia asked if a kiss was supposed to feel weird the first time you did it and if it got better later on. Poor Ran had to explain to her about chemistry. Matsumoto gleefully told me about the follow-up question the next day about whether chemistry was something that could be implanted.**_

Let's hope not. Could anyone imagine all the troubles this one would cause?

_**So apparently by the fourth try they both gave it up as a botch job, which is a little strange I'll admit, I mean, no offense here but it's clear they have feelings for each other, it just looks like those feelings don't include any spark whatsoever.**_

I should be celebrating but I felt a little sad for her. I knew she'd had something of a crush on her very, very _married _Lieutenant at one point, maybe the lingering feelings of regret and self-disgust were overshadowing any ability of hers to have a relationship at all. It was understandable that the whole Kuchiki thing would have put a damper on any attempts to have a relationship, but forty years and never been kissed was a bit beyond pathetic. I wasn't complaining or anything, the news made _me _pretty happy, but at the same time...

_**Now they're back to being friends again, at least that's what I heard. Her tail is in quite a twist about you not coming to her for help after you disappeared, and I have to admit that I'm a little upset too. Being wary about the Seireitei possibly arresting you is one thing, but you could have come to us you know. Kira and I are your friends, we'd have helped you out. I understand why you didn't but at the same time I wish you'd trust us a little more. Well, we both miss you. Write back if you have time.**_

_**Love, Momo.**_

_**P.S. Don't worry if the letter you get from Rukia looks angry, she'd just worried about you, that's all.**_

I wouldn't have admitted it out loud, but the letters and the well-wishes sent with them did warm me up a little. Okay, a _lot_. I didn't feel so alone anymore, and I hadn't realized how important their friendship was to me until I found myself suddenly alone and trying to find a way to get back to the place that had sorta become home to me over the years.

"You look happy," Yoruichi noted, a slight teasing note in her voice. I immediately straightened my face. This was why I never played poker, anything I was thinking or feeling always seemed to make its way straight onto my face. A woman that was any less dense or more observant about matters of the heart than Rukia was would have picked up on my feelings immediately.

"The Boss says he wants that proof, so I guess there's no helping it," I said with what I hoped was a casual shrug. "We'll just have to track that Shadow back to wherever its hiding and get the job done."

"The letter from Rukia looks... emphatic," Yoruichi noted, purely as a way to rub it in I suppose.

"I wouldn't worry about that," I said with a shrug, trying not to show how hurt I actually was about it.

I knew her better than that, the maledictions and deathwishes she'd sent me was just her original reaction. Rukia had always had a tendency to lash out at me when I did something that pissed her off (as I so often had).

"She's just blowing off steam that's all. She's probably disappointed because she didn't get to come along."

"Hnh..." Yoruichi replied skeptically. "And your letter from Kira worries me a little."

"Hey!" I snapped, trying to snatch back the paper she had mysteriously managed to pull out right from under my nose. "You shouldn't go around reading other people's mail, it's rude!"

"Well I'm not a member of the Court Guard Squads anymore so I can't keep a finger on the pulse of the Seireitei myself, I have to rely on what I get out of Soifon and she's... well, they do pay her to be aloof an suspicious, but sometimes I think she takes it a little far. Doesn't it worry you that a significant faction of the people you work with seem to think you're a possible traitor?"

"Nah," I grunted in reply. "None of the people who matter to me believe it for a second so the doubtings of the nay-sayers don't mean anything. Besides, I'll come back with plenty of proof to clear my name."

"Still..." she said dubiously.

"I'll be honest with you about this though, the vote of confidence from Captain Kuchiki was entirely unexpected. Last time, when I stood up to him to try to get Rukia out of prison he wanted to fire me. It was the other Captain's who convinced him to let me stay on as Lieutenant. I wasn't expecting him to be so understanding, it seems kinda out of character for him."

Yoruichi smiled a little at that and nodded agreement.

"Rukia may have had something to do with it," she suggested.

I tried not to look skeptical about that particular assessment, since when had she ever had any influence over her brother? I didn't see it if she did. Byakuya Kuchiki did whatever he felt was best and that was the end of the matter.

"She might have went to her brother and put in a good word for you, after all, she has known you for a long time, off and on."

I restrained a snort at the comment, it sounded dubious to me.

"I doubt he'd listen if she did," I said. "For starters, she's younger than him. You've known him since he was a brat, you have to know that he does what he feels is best and ta hell with anyone else's input on the matter."

Yoruichi made a small noise of agreement and said

"Then it may just be that he listened to Shiba and to Ukitake for once, after all, being humbled by them having been right all along that one point might have made him more willing to set aside his pride for a moment and seek counsel. You know those two would have spoken well for you and counseled him to trust and have patience."

Maybe," I said, not really certain if I dared to believe it or not.

"And even if we don't manage to get hold of one of the Shadows for ourselves," I added, checking the device that i intended to use to get Kuchiki that proof if I couldn't manage to capture one of the little buggers. "We can still at least get some evidence another way."

* * *

**Everyone can relax, Yoruichi has returned. And with letters form home too, looks like Byakuya's begun to mellow in his old age... ^_^ Thak you for all of the wonderful reveiws from the last chapter and look forward to the next few chapters springing us back into the action again. Wow, fifty chapters already! And this latest one put me over two hundred reveiws thanks so much everyone! **


	51. Difficult Women

Isana emerged from her tent looking as fresh and well put together as she always insisted on. it seemed to me this morning that she had put extra effort into her appearance. Her long dark hair was braided and pinned into a crown on her head, the clothes she'd chosen to wear were the ones given to her by the Elves on our visit to them; eminently suited to travel yet elegant and feminine too and cut to accentuate her best traits. She wore make-up as usual, I had never seen her not wearing it for she insisted that it was her duty to always try to look her best, even out in the field, but it looked like she'd taken especial care this morning. She was even wearing mascara. I was nearly done with my morning exercise, just running the last rep on my cool-down stretches then I'd grab a quick wash and bathe in the nearby river. Yoruichi, in her cat-form, was nearby eating a fish that she had caught and I had cooked over the fire while I finished my training regimen.

"There's food over the fire if you want it," I said gesturing to the place where the remains of breakfast waited along with a pot of heated water for tea or coffee (vile drink that it was) if she wanted it.

For some reason that escaped me, Isana enjoyed drinking that hell-brew. She actually insisted that she needed to drink it every morning or she couldn't function. If Kuchiki married a woman able to consume that horrid concoction without flinching no wonder he was still so stuck on her, she must truly be a woman among women. Isana watched me run my last few yoga poses, and finish with salutation to the sun while she sipped from her mug of boiled bitterness.

"I'm for a quick bath," I said, grabbing the nearby towel hanging from a tree-limb and sauntering off. I always felt so much better after some morning exercise.

The nearby steam where I had caught our dinner and Yoruichi's breakfast bubbled merrily and I followed it down until I came across a part where it widened out and calmed into a shallow pool then promptly stripped the rest of the way and started wading in. The chill water actually felt good against my heated skin.

"I think I'll join you," a familiar voice said off to one side.

I would have turned my head and scowled in her direction, but caught myself in time with the remembrance that when she changed forms, she did it without clothes. She was not the person I wanted to share a bath with; I already knew she was somewhat involved with that Uruhara and he was one man that I did not want ta piss off by foolin' around with his woman. Besides, Yoruichi looked like she'd scratch my back to ribbons, and I liked my women declawed a bit.

"I thought cat's were s'posed ta hate water," I grunted in reply, ducking under to rinse off the sweat.

I came back up with a gasp (the water was a little colder than I had originally thought) and flipped my hair back out of my face... and there she was, in all her human (very naked) glory. She smirked at me with all of the easy confidence of a woman who's completely hot and knows it.

"You wash my back and I'll wash yours," she invited.

Oh-hoh no, I was so not going near that. If there was one woman in the world who delighted in trouble (and would happily make some if she couldn't find it on her own) it was Yoruichi Shihouin. Still women could be touchy about rejection, and a woman who had once been nobility would surely have to be doubly so; especially when that rejection implied some lack of and attractive feature in a woman who was known for her beauty. How to couch this carefully in terms of flattery...

"I couldn't possibly trouble such a beautiful woman with such a menial task," I protested, lying through my teeth and feeling rather proud of the way it had come out sounding.

Yoruichi studied me through narrowed eyes, clearly debating internally whether or not she was going to accept my flattery and leave me alone. No dice. She smiled that cat with cream on its whiskers (or in this case, more like with a mouse under its paw) and said

"Oh it's no trouble at all Lieutenant. After all, I'm already not wearing anything. I might as well have a good wash before we continue on, and bath time is so much more fun with someone to share it with."

"Get a rubber ducky," I replied flatly, growing irritated with her insistence already.

I sank deeper into the water, glaring downward in annoyance at the offending appendage that had once again taken on a mind of its own. That happened in Seireitei too, of course, but without the biology of flesh, such reaction were less frequent and usually only towards those that the person already liked or was attracted too. Yoruichi was attractive and there was no getting around that, but I did not generally find that I desired her company of a night. Now that i was a being of flesh with all of its inherent concerns, this body of mine wanted what it wanted and didn't really care what I thought on the matter.

I could hear her step into the water and approach me though I kept my back resolutely turned toward her. I was already at half mast, looking at her would just... I started doing sums in my head as I heard her sashaying closer in the water.

"Back off woman," I growled, dropping any pretense at flattery.

"You're so tense," she said, simply appearing right behind me in the water and squeezing my shoulders.

I moved slightly to one side as a silent signal that her handling of me was not appreciated. To be honest parts of me appreciated it very much, and would have liked to appreciate more, but I had other things to concern myself with. I was not some weak-willed adolescent to be turned this way and that with a touch. It was a little insulting to be treated that way. Yes, she was a beautiful woman, and yes I found her attractive, but attractive was not irresistible. I was a warrior in the field, and if I wanted my Captain to take me seriously, I had better act like one. that meant no dallying with mischievous females like I had nothing better to do with my time.

Besides, I didn't like being used or toyed with. I didn't like games.

"Don't be shy, I promise I'll be gentle," she purred, pressing her whole body flush to mine.

I'm not going to lie, it felt good. Very good. She was soft in all the right places, her skin was smooth and her curves promised wonders if I would just turn around. My stubbornness reared its head (it was not the only thing to rear its head) and I stayed resolutely still. I tried to remind myself of why pinning her up against a nearby rock would be a bad idea but all of my higher brain functions seemed to have escaped southward.

"I've always been just a little curious about you, Renji," she said to me as she ran a hand across my shoulder and down my chest, molding each muscle by feel. It felt incredible.

"Every time I see you, you're always fighting or training if you're not eating or sleeping."

She worked her hand over my battle-hard chest, exploring by touch as I stood there, trying to work up a suitable response to this turn of events.

"You've never given me anything more than a cursory glance."

And there it was, the real reason she was so intent on having her way with me, or making me have her way with her, I wasn't sure which. She was just in a fit a female pique because I seemed resistant to her charms. It was nothing more than the lure of the unattainable.

"I know you like girls. Just because you're in love with Rukia; there's no real reason why we can't have fun if there's nothing between you two right now."

Which sort of made it a bit worse. She was only curious about me and she knew how I felt about Rukia.

I caught her wrist, stopping her at my waist and gently but firmly pushed her hand away from me.

"Curiosity killed the cat," I said.

"Satisfaction brought it back," she replied playfully, arching her body up against mine.

Whoa. That felt... incredible. I shook myself out of it and by a supreme effort of will stepped forward and away from her, turning to the side so I could at least try to keep an eye on her so she wouldn't try anything else.

"Thank you for the kind offer," I said, unable to keep a least a little bit of huskiness from bleeding into my voice while I tried to bring my heart-rate and breathing back under control. "But I believe I'll decline."

She looked at me with some surprise.

"I do believe that Byaku-bo's uptightness has begun to rub off on you," she teased.

"No," I corrected her. "I'm just not the kind of guy who'll take whatever is offered, just because it's offered. You're trouble, woman, and I don't really feel like adding on whatever little amusement you've got in mind to my already hectic mess."

Yoruichi gazed at me with a long, level measuring look. Perhaps it was just my imagination, but it seemed to me that surprise flickered in the depths of her gold eyes.

"You're really turning me down, aren't you?" she said in amazement.

There was a large part of me that wanted to say, just kidding and proceed to water-filled fun (because it had been a little while, not too long, but a little longer than I was accustomed to being celibate) but I sternly reminded myself about all the ways in which fun with Yoruichi (or playing right into her claws) would be a Very Bad Idea. I wasn't a brilliant man, but I knew a set-up when I smelled one. There was something about this that seemed a little too like something out of a fantasy for me to accept it at face value. She'd never even glanced once in my direction before and suddenly she's eagre for a roll in the hay (or whatever)?

"Yeah," I said, finishing up my wash and ducking under so I could get the hell out of there.

I made a few clean stroke under the water and came out on the opposite bank. When I came up for air, she was sunning herself, sprawled out casual as you please in all of her naked glory on a nearby rock. She looked at me steadily, as one might examine some sort of new species of bug and at last said

"Are you turning me down because you don't want to have sex with me or because you're already in love?"

I turned it back on her.

"Are you trying to have sex with me just because you're curious or because I'm already in love?"

Her little kitty smirk suddenly widened in a real smile and she laughed a full-throated laugh (which, let me tell you, did wonders for her. Wow.)

"You become more like your Captain every day. That's just the sort of answer he would have given me. Well, they do say that pets begin to take on the traits of their masters."

I scowled at her for referring to me as a pet.

"If you're able to resist me ambushing you naked in a spring, I guess you can stand up to about any temptation," she said merrily.

"You certainly have a high opinion of yourself," I muttered.

"So I suppose the mortal woman is safe enough in your care, or is it that you are in hers? I still can't believe you allowed some woman besides Rukia to put a collar on you."

"She's got a kid," I said defensively. "And she's all alone with no-one else to help her out."

"And she looks just like Rukia," Yoruichi noted. "You poor thing. You must have been caught up like a salmon in a net."

She shook her head a little, but there was something strangely soft, almost fond, on her face instead of the usual teasing smirk.

"You really do have too much of the knight errant in you, Renji. Rukia doesn't know what a lucky girl she is."

"Careful, that almost sounded like an unqualified compliment," I replied, emerging from the water and toweling off.

I heard her mutter as she watched me walk out of the water and tie the towel around my waist

"She really, really doesn't know what a lucky girl she is."

I grinned and dressed to head back to camp. It was always nice to be appreciated.

* * *

"I guess we're ready to go," Isana said brightly as I stored the last of our gear on Tanner's back. I pulled up the set of armor that the Elves had made up for her with its long, high-necked black-diamond undercoat and the intricately-detailed, molded plate-armor breast-plate and greaves.

"Almost," I said agreeably.

I held out the suit to her, indicating that she should put it on.

"Uh, no," Isana replied to my silent request. "I don't want to wear that."

"Oh, gee that's too bad," I said, smiling a little at her. "Because we're not going anywhere until you put it on."

"Excuse you?" Isana demanded archly. "Who do you think you are, telling me what to wear mister tattoo-face?"

"I think that, willing or not, I'm your bodyguard," I replied firmly. "And since I'm doing all the fighting, there might be times when I can't be there to guard you. The armor will make it harder for your enemy to eat you, it should buy you enough time to use that new magic of yours to roast the attacker, or for me to get there and finish him off."

Perfectly, sensible and logical reasoning there, she'd have to be a fool not to listen to me.

"I don't care," Isana said, crossing her arms. "I don't want to wear it."

I stared at her in shock for a long moment. Here we were, trekking across dangerous, uncharted, possibly enemy, territory in hopes of taking on a new enemy we may or may not actually be able to fight and she didn't want to wear protection?

"Well why not?" I demanded, beginning to get irritated.

"It's heavy," she objected.

"You're riding anyway," I said.

"It's hot," she said.

"Think cool thoughts," I said flatly, advancing on her a little.

She backed up.

"I already wore it yesterday, I can't wear something two days in a row," she tried again.

"Yer clothes are clean enough," I snatched half-heartedly at her and she dodged.

I snatched again and she scrambled out of the way. Now I was starting to get really irritated.

"Geeze, it's like chasing a four-year old!" I growled under my breath.

"I already told you, I'm not wearing it!" she shouted at me.

"Yes you are, or yer not goin' no-where," I rebutted. "I'll just leave you here."

"You can't do that!" she said, outraged.

"Watch me," I shrugged.

Thrusting the armful of armor at her. She kicked it to one side and turned her head sharply away as a gesture of refusal.

"That's fine," I said, shrugging again. "I can wait here all day for you to put it on. But I should remind you that the longer you wait standing here arguing with me, the further your kid is getting away from you."

"Down!" she shouted, flaring out with her power.

The collar not only made me hit the floor, making my back feel like I had a thousand pound weight resting on it, but it sent a strong buzzing shock along my senses like a tazer.

"Gyaah!" I shouted in pain.

She towered over me, with me slumped over at her feet like a captive and crossed her arms.

"No armor," she said emphatically.

I pulled myselF up to a sitting position and glared at her. There she went, pushing the envelope again. I was going out of my way to keep her safe, geas or no geas, but it seemed like every time I gave her an inch, she'd up and decide ta take a mile.

"And we're leaving now," she snapped, sounding like a princess ordering around her servant.

I might be bound by geas, and a nice enough guy ta try an' reunite a worried mother with her son, but there were limits and this was mine.

"Not without that armor on you, we're not," I insisted.

This was something I wasn't going to cave in on, I'd promised that I would protect her to the best of my abilities and this was something that was going to help me do that. I couldn't be everywhere at once...

"Mortal," the cat said sharply from where she had been witnessing the fight from her perch on a tree stump.

Yoruichi had turned back to her feline form before we'd come back to camp. There was no point in shocking ht eMortal with anything else on top of everything she was already dealing with.

"What?" Isana demanded.

"You are the one who bound him to serve as you protector and help you rescue your son, you shouldn't discount his sensible advice when he is acting in your better interests. Renji, though he is highly ranked in the Soul Society, is young yet in terms of Reaper-years, and the situation is dangerous and very unpredictable, he cannot be everywhere at once. Not even the best of warriors can be everywhere at once. He is so insistent on you wearing that armor because he is aware of this fact. If he is caught in a battle and is unable to reach your side, and you are attacked, that armor may save your life. Renji is right to insist, you should listen to him... and also, you should stop treating the poor man to the rough side of your distemper merely because you are frightened and worried for your child."

That explained why she'd been so damned unreasonable lately. The journey must have begun to wear on her. She got regally spoiled when she was tired and cranky then. Heh, maybe she was the boss' wife after all.

Isana looked at the cat, who stared unblinkingly back at her then she looked at me, sitting firmly on the ground and not budging and sighed gustily.

"I guess that makes sense," she said almost grudgingly. "here, help me get this on then."

I rose and picked up the pieces from off the ground, then helped her into the black diamond mail-coat and secured it on her by the fastenings. then grabbed up the corset-like fitted breast plate, and secured that onto her. There was something really neat and wonderful about this Elven armor they'd made for her, instead of being a collection of many large pieces that had to be fastened, fitted and tied together by an attendant, Elven armor was only about three or four pieces; the helmet, the mailcoat that went on under it, the breast-piece, the arm-bracers and the boots. When the owner of the armor touched a jewel on each peice the armor magically unfolded outwards to fill in the missing spots. Isana touched the jewel at the bust of the breast-peice and the collarbone-guard and shoulder guard unfolded out from it, conforming to her proportions. The arm-bracers became ganuntlets and guards for her arms that traveled up and attached to the shoulder-guards. The boots traveled up to cover her legs. She balked at the helmet so I compromised and told her she only had to wear it while she was on Tanner's back. She didn't look happy about it, but I could see that she was more eager to get going then she was to argue with me about it so she acquiesced.

I cupped my fingers and lifted her up into the saddle on Tanner's back, Yoruichi sprung up onto the softish saddle-back on the back of the saddle and settled herself in for the ride. I checked my Zanpaktou and took one last cursory glance around to see that we hadn't forgotten anything, then took the reigns and led Tanner and his passengers toward the Gate.

"You're sure it went this way Yoruichi?" I asked as we approached the gate.

It wasn't the same one we'd used the night before, so the coordinates would be different.

"Positive," she replied as she plopped down from the back of the not-horse and aproached the circle of sigil-nodes that would allow us to travel to other Realms in the Dangai.

"You know," I said absently as we approached the steps up to the gate platform. "I've been activating and using these Gates for a while now, and I get that they're run on spiritual energy, but no-one has ever really explained to me how they work."

Yoruichi turned her head and yelped in surprise.

"You've been running around using them, and you don't even know how they work?"

I looked back over at her. And she stared at me for a long moment then shook her head and sounded ruefully bemused as she said

"Typical Renji, I really shouldn't be surprised. You really are more the leap before you look type aren't you?"

I couldn't really deny it, though I know she hadn't been complimenting me.

"Well, it's pretty simple," she said, her tone taking on a teaching ring to it.

She gestured to the circles in the stone, glowing faintly with innate power. There was a large main circle upon which were three smaller circles with smaller rings that had sigils inside of them, like numbers on a rotary telephone. I'd never toyed around with them because I hadn't wanted to run the risk of losing the trail by accident.

"The large circle just binds the three node slots together in one spell," she explained. "The three smaller circles are what you use to get your coordinates for the realm you want. Travel in the Dangai, as connected by World Gates, takes place along the ley-lines, those are the conduits in which the main energy of the Dangai travels along. Each ley-line has a sigil to identify it, and the node-slots in a gateway platform are what are used to find the three main ley-lines that that Relm exists on. Think of it like this, in order to find a particular point in three-dimensional space, you need to use three different axes. The same principle applies here, in order to find a particular Realm in the vast network of interconnected World Gates in the Dangai you enter the coordinate sigils...

She placed a paw on one of the smaller rings on the outside of the larger ring and turned the collection of sigil-nodes in a circle, like a person using one of those old-fashioned rotary telephones. The circle on the inside of the outer ring next to a line that looked like an upside-down Y floating by itself in the middle of the diagram lit up a little more brightly. Yoruichi placed another paw on the other two and selected two more sigil-nodes and summoned up an orb of rieatsu and fed it into the diagram.

It flared up with light and a light-shadow of the three sigils traveled down the three lines in the middle of the diagram like trains on a track and conbined in the center. A pinpoint of light floated up from the very center, and wrote the symbols for the three node-sigils in the air. The neon-like symbols shot towards the gate and the gate lit up. I was used to this by now of course, having seen it over and over every time we'd crossed worlds. It was pretty, but now it was becoming mundane.

Yoruichi hopped back onto the back of Isana's riding beast and I took the reigns and sprinted through the Gate and along the starry-white path between worlds.

"Are you sure you got the right co-ordinates Yoruichi?" I demanded as soon as I stepped out of the starpath from the gate and onto the platform that led to that world and was immediately assaulted by the smell of decaying vegetation and the stink of stagnant water. There were times when having the best nose-for tracking was a very distinct disadvantage.

"Of course I did," she replied back. "It's not my fault that it led somewhere you don't really want to go."

Boy did I ever not want to go there. This place smelled... well, like a swamp.

I looked around, the forest cover was dense and the water was so murky that I couldn't tell how deep or shallow it was. In fact, the water was so murky (not to mention smelly) that it was little better than liquefied mud. The trees looked rotted through and were covered also in thick, disgusting-looking slimy stuff that would most probably make them slippery.

"Looks trecherous," I remarked of the place. "There's no telling how deep that water really is, or what's hiding in it. I've already run inta one nasty tentacle-monster on this trip and I ain't all that inclined to want ta fight another one. Hey, Yoruichi, yer a cat-

"No-way," she said flatly, correctly guessing that I was going to ask her to scout ahead and see if she couldn't find a safe way through this mess.

"There's no-way I'm setting a single paw in that stuff unless I absolutely have to."

"Would you please stay here with Miss Isana while I scout around to see if I can find a way through this mess that won't leave the two of you dripping in swamp-nastiness," I amended.

"That sounds like an excellent plan," Yoruichi said approvingly. "I'll guard the girl, while you look around. Do your best not to slip into it Renji, neither of us want to walk around with a person who smells like unwashed gym socks."

I shot her a dirty look for her "well wishes"

"I can sense a Shadow nearby Renji, so be careful while you are out there. It's not the one you're chasing, but they were in contact with one another and I believe that all of the Shadows are headed in the same direction, to the same Realm."

"I can smell it just fine," I said. "But aside of that..."

I looked around me again, the swamp looked like an ordinary enough (albeit very nasty) swamp except for the fact that htere were large chucks of scenery missing. The sky along the horizon faded to a warped inky-blackness, and there were patches missing from the overcast roof of the sky. The very air around me felt strangely stagnant and devoid of life, a feeling that had nothing to do with the fact that the place stank to high heaven. There was just something about this place that felt like it was dying.

"Aside of that, what, Renji?" Yoruichi asked.

"Don't you feel anything?" I questioned, turning to her. "This place feels... like it's dying. I've been to some other Realms that feel this way too. I've seen other Realms that have peices of the sky missing and Realms where whole chunks of it just aren't there, like someone pulled on the end of a sweater string and started unraveling it."

"Hm..." Yoruichi said, looking around her. "You think it might be them?"

"I dunno," I said honestly. "I don't know much about the Dangai other than what I've picked up along the way. This place seems weird to me all the time, the only difference I've been able to tell is that some Realms are weirder than others."

"Still I doubt those missing pieces are normal, and if it is the work of the Shadows, it might have something to do with us. Do you really think that the Shadows are working with Aizen?"

"I haven't seen anything to support it," I replied. "But that man's as slippery as a river-eel, if he doesn't want his presence known it won't be until he's ready to make a move. It's just a feeling I have. I don't think it's paranoia either, I mean think about it, if you were planning on secretly using a new army you'd amassed to take over the world, would you bother announcing your intentions to your enemies as loud as possible in a way that will unmistakably piss 'em all off, then brazenly all but hang a sign above your new nest that says here 'I am, come and kill me'? It just doesn't make sense. I can't help but think that maybe that whole Winter War was just a distraction, a way to get us to commit our forces..."

"One hell of a distraction if it is," Yoruichi said. "Still..."

She seemed to look at me with something akin to respect in her eyes.

"You know, it's pretty sharp of you to have noticed this and put it all together yourself Renji, I have to admit that I'm pretty surprised. Well, shocked would be closer to the truth. I always took you for this big, dumb jock who's a passable fighter, and terrible at kido, who let's himself be ruled by his stomach and his temper, is pathetically in love with a girl who doesn't notice him that way, and exists to provide me with fodder for my amusement."

:_Ouch_,: I thought.

She'd hit several targets there. Many of which were, sadly, true.

"Don't go thinkin' I'm some kinda intellectual or nuthin'," I hastened to reassure her. "I'm still a dumb jock, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, or maybe its wrong place and wrong time, to notice a few things. I;m sure people a lot smarter than me would have come to that conclusion a lot faster if they'd been running the investigation."

She looked like she didn't know whether or not she was supposed to agree with me.

"Uh, right..." she said.

"Anyway, I'll be looking into things. Stay here until i get back. if you want, have the missy practice her new spellcasting on you, she could use the practice."

* * *

**The first half of the chapter (the scene with Yoruichi and Renji trying to take a bath) was not in the original draft. I added it in as the inspiration hit me, thinking, "you know what, this story needs a little something... " It needs a little sexual tension. The tension between Isana and Renji isn't really sexual in nature and he really has too hot a bod to not have him naked at some point in the story. ^_^**

**Thank you for all the wonderful reveiws in the last chapter and I look forward to hearing your opinions on this one. Was it too overdone? I'm not very good with racy sexual scenes (romance novels really aren't my thing) so I'm afraid I might have gotten caught up in the mechanics of it. Or did i go too light on the details and concentrate too much on character (can you concentrate too much on character?)? Tell me what you thought. (nervous)**


	52. Skulk

I flashed off across the slippery tree-tops. Finding purchase along the slick deadwood to land long enough for another flash spring was chancey. I wasn't a light guy, so I had to move quickly to avoid staying on the branch so long that it would break. As soon as I landed on it, it started to snap so I could only pause for half a heartbeat, long enough to find my next spot and leap there. Good training I guess. I couldn't smell a whole lot over the thick, heavy miasma of the swamp but I could definitely make out the very very powerful lingering traces of the Shadow that had passed by recently. There was no mistaking that aura for anything else. I'd have to be cautious while tracking it, I wanted to get close to it, but I didn't want to give away my position.

I tracked the soul-scent of that Shadow across the slick, muddy, stinking terrain of the swamp carefully. I didn't really consider myself to be a fastidious kind of guy, but this place _smelled_, and I really didn't want to slip and fall into that muck and come out smelling like it. Plus, this damn gigai, excuse me, mortal body was hard enough to keep from smelling on its own. None of the other Gigai's I'd owned had ever excreted water from the skin after one measely little practice session that started to smell after a while. It seemed like every time I turned around I was having to wash it off again. I liked a good bath as much as the next person but I was beginning to feel like a neurotic here.

:_Whoah! Close one there_,: I thought with a small heart-start as the branch I landed on snapped immediately under my weight almost before I could spring to my next spot.

The smell was getting stronger, so I was getting closer to the enemy, but I hadn't seen anything that resembled a way across this swamp besides my way.

:_I guess it shouldn't be too bad though. I'll just carry the little missy same as I used to, and Yoruichi is already the Goddess of Flash so she won't have any troubles keeping up_.:

I wanted to at least sight the enemy before I turned back and got my companions. If I were going to approach it however, I should probably dim down my reiatsu so it didn't sense me coming. It felt strange to try to do it while on the move, instead of pausing so I could concentrate, but if I didn't want to fall in a sink-hole, I had to keep moving. It took more than a few tries, but I finally focused my concentration enough to enable me to completely bind up my chakra and meridians to the point that the barest whiff of spiritual power trickled out, and this was what I used to flash-step.

The smell was getting steadily stronger, I could tell by the under-scent of the Shadow's spiritual residue that it wasn't the specific Shadow that had turned me Mortal, but a different one. Right then, however, I would have taken what I could get. I pulled out the crystal recording device from the rolled-cloth sling across my back and activated it.

"Sixth Squad Lieutenant Renji Abarai, Involuntary Mission Log seventeen, dated following morning," I said in a low whisper to the recording device. "I've tracked down a different Shadow in the Realm beyond the World Gate that I met Yoruichi at last night. As you can see, this world is a swamp..."

I zoomed in on the strange pieces that were missing from the horizon and the sky and decided to add

"This world shows the same attributes of a lot of the other worlds mentioned earlier; it seems that it is becoming unraveled somehow. I'm not sure if this is just a sign of it growing old, and being unoccupied, or a sign of something larger, but the fact that the Shadows have chosen to travel through the dying Realms more often than they've picked whole ones might be important. Anyway, the Shadow should be just up ahead. I can feel the funny burn of thier weird magic from here, it's hard to describe, it's sorta like when ya stand next to a really loud base-speaker at a rock concert and you can just feel yer gigai being pounded by the music, only its has a sort of uncomfortably warm feeling to it. That's as close as I can come to describing it. Anyway, it's been getting stronger for the last half hour or so, and I think I'm getting close. I'll scout and observe this first run, then head back to the others before we decide on a course of action."

I kept the recording device on and silently sprang from tree to tree, trying to keep my presence as slight and unnoticeable as possible. At last, the forest started to thin out a bit and the ground below me, instead of being lakelets made of dirty water interspersed with little islands made of masses of weed-choked mud, began to firm up into something that resembled solid ground. There were still massive copses of water-weeds every-where, more than enough to provide cover, the bad part was that I'd have to get down onto what passed for ground in this place.

"Yick," I muttered sotto voce. "I really don't want to go down there, but there's no help for it."

Besides, I was a Rukon brat, chances were that I'd had worse stuff splattered on me at one point or another. Still... I sighed a little as I decided to try to save my footwear. I pulled off the shoes Isana had picked out for me and strung them over one shoulder by the shoelaces then tried to find the least muddy spot that would offer me cover. I took a quick breath and landed gingerly in it. It tried not to make any noises of disgust as I felt cold mud squelch through my toes. I crept quietly closer to the clearing making no noise at all and paused at the edge to bring the recording device to bear on what lay there.

There were three Shadows there, I could tell they were Shadows because they were made of the same not-substance that the sole Shadow I had encountered face to face (with Mortal results) had been made of. They were like miniature storm-clouds of matte dark, shot through with strange strands of sparkling substance in the heart of them that shimmered darkly, even in the cloudy light of this Realm. Their substance-less forms seemed to sway rhythmically, and they were... singing? I'd never heard a Shadow make any sort of sound before, but I couldn't determine any other source for that strangely melodic trilling sound. The three Shadows were at an equal distance apart and they were centered around some kind of...

I barely restrained a gasp of surprise as I recognized one of those fiery diagrams with the circles and the sigils that I had come to recognize as the way that magical arts were practiced in the Divine Realms.

:_I wish this thing had a zoom lens_,: I thought to myself.

Then to my surprise the picture in front of me jumped into larger and clearer focus. The diagram and the Shadows suddenly became much easier to see and I panned slowly over the scene before me for long minutes, trying to take in everything.

The Shadows were trilling some kind of strange wordless chant with their diagram glowing darkly in the stone beneath them. In the very center of the diagram, floating in mid-air, was a bead, or a gem of some sort. The air around the gem warped and swayed, like heat-haze over a highway and up from around the diagram there were strange motes of light, like starlight sand flowing into the gem which seemed to pulse with power. I wasn't sure exactly what was going on, but I could sorta begin to guess. After a few more long minutes of silent observation I turned the recorder off and slowly, silently crept back to a safer distance then made for the tree-tops and made all speed back to where Yoruichi and Isana were.

I arrived back at the Gate platform, the Shadows seemingly unaware of my presence, to find the two of them settled in nicely on the flat stone walkway that hovered in midair.I wondered if I should have an ominous feeling of foreboding that the two of them seemed to be getting along well with each other. The only subject I could think of that the two of them might have in common (without Yoruichi revealing more than she safely could to the mortal woman I was keeping very carefully ignorant of a few key details) was me, and I shivered to think of the kinds of conversations they might choose to indulge in on that subject matter.

:_Some times, for a man, ignorance truly is bliss_,: I decided.

The first thing Isana and Yoruichi had to say to me after I tried to approach the steps was

"Ugh! Go and wash off, Renji, you smell!"

So much for the warm welcome. I looked down at myself and realized that I had the muck of the swamp weighting my pants legs down the whole trip back. There was a layer of grime caked on me all the way up to my waist from where I'd had to immerse myself in muck to keep my cover and there was splatter on my shirt form ducking down into the weeds to hide. It was on my arms and face, a move I'd stolen from some of the soldiers I'd observed in 'Nam during my stint there on Red-zone missions earlier in my career as a young officer a few decades ago. It helped to camouflage me in with the surroundings.

Yoruichi pointedly activated the gate and not-so-subtly said to me

"There's a stream you can wash in on the other side."

Isana tossed me a handful of fresh clothes and a towel wrapped in plastic and pointed the way, only the gesture more closely resembled someone telling their dog to go out into the garage.

"Thank ladies," I said dryly. "It's nice to know that I'm loved."

"We love you better when you don't smell like something that died," Yoruichi said frankly.

I tossed her the recording device with its image-sphere in its carrying case and said

"Look at that while I'm gone."

Nothing loath to wash this smelly nastiness off me, I flashed across worlds to the one I'd left previously that morning and stripped down to wash up in the stream. Like all the other lakes and streams I'd bathed in over the course of this little leap-frog across the Realms, this one was unpleasantly cold. Not freezing, but certainly it wasn't warm. My gentlemen hated cold baths, they were trying to crawl up in me, possibly not to come out again. I ducked under and thrashed about a bit to shake the worst of the mud that had caked on and clung to me like a second skin. I washed up vigorously with the river water to get the worst of it off, then, when I was sure I was clean enough, I used the soap. A little bit later I was toweling off and putting on the clean clothes. Still barefoot, I hopped back to the swamp-world where Isana and Yoruichi were waiting for me.

I found them both poring over the images in the sphere I'd recorded.

"Whatcha s'pose they're up to?" I asked without preamble.

Isana might not know a whole lot about our world, but Yoruichi was a master at Kido, she'd have to be in order to have taken a post as the Captain of the Special Ops Division. She might be able to give and educated guess, 'cuz I wasn't any sort of detective or kido genius.

A long pause followed my question while we all watched the image of the three Shadows and their weird spell circle being played out on the recording sphere. The picture quality wasn't the best, it sort of warped a bit around the edges, but other than that I guess I couldn't complain too much.

"I'm not sure," yoruichi said consideringly after a long moment of study. "It's clear that they're doing _something_, but it's anybody's guess as to what. If we knew what that spell-circle of theirs was for we'd have an answer, but aside of Isana here I don't have any contacts in the Divine Realms who use the system of magic that the beings of the Divine Realms use."

My thoughts flashed back to that enormous library in the Katschei's Realm and I wondered if something useful might be found there. Too bad none of us had the time or leisure for research, I certainly wasn't inclined that way and we were in the middle of a mission and couldn't really afford to be sidetracked right then.

"Let's catch one and beat it out of them," I said, more than willing to get all this non-sense out of the way.

"Try not to be any more of an idiot than you absolutely have to," Yoruichi said quellingly. "I know you're used to fighting Hollows, but Shadows are another order of creature altogether. I'm not certain that even the Captains of The Court of Pure Souls wouldn't have difficulties taking them on."

"We're going to have to fight one sooner or later," I pointed out. "She needs ta find her kid and I need out of this damn body, and in order to do that we need that Shadow that took her boy. We'll just call this a practice round, just ta see what those things are made of."

Yoruichi shook her head a little but she seemed like she was amused by something all she said was

"Same Renji as ever, always thinking about your next fight."

"I think about other stuff too," I defended. "Like how are we all supposed to get across this swamp-"

My sentence cut off in surprise when one of my traveling companions did something unexpected. Surrounded with what looked like a blue glowing aura, Isana rose to her feet and made and elaborate gesture with her hands out before her. The chalice on her wrist glowed a neon blue and then expanded until it was the side of a small cauldron. Water swirled up out of it into a long rod that promptly iced over into into a crystaline icicle-like staff with what looked like a large six-sided snowflake at the top. Isana pointed her rod down at the murky water of the swamp.

"Freeze," she commanded.

Her voice sounded like a strange combination of her own voice and an echoing, serenely chill feminine voice.

The water in front of where she'd pointed her rod began to frost over with a thin rime, that spread out and turned to ice. The ice turned a blue-white color and Isana stepped down onto it, I was about to grab her shoulder to pull her back, but the ice supported her weight without a single crackle. The aura of blue faded around her and Isana slumped down a little.

She looked back at the two of us, Yoruichi and I exchanged a long glance. Isana, blinked for a long moment as if waking from a trance then once again faced the surface of the swamp before her.

"Freeze!" Isana commanded, pointing to the water in front of her.

A narrow pathway iced over in front of her and she started to walk forward, testing it. After a moment of it bearing her weight just fine she seemed to relax.

"C'mon if you're going," Isana said, looking both surprised and elated at this new ability.

"Yer jus' provin' yerself all kindsa useful today," I told her.

She beamed happily at me over her shoulder and gestured with her ice-rod and the ice grew thicker and more sturdy.

"Just leave it to me," she said cheerfully.

I grinned and gathered up Tanner's reigns, pulling the not-horse down the steps and out onto the the ice-path Isana had suddenly learned how to make. I was kinda glad I wasn't her though, having some Spirit-Guardian just up and dumping knowledge inta my head didn't seem like it'd be my cup of tea. Indeed, even as I helped her mount up, I could see she was a little pale and sweaty in the face and she held a hand to one temple like she was nursing a headache. We started off, myself going at a more leisurely pace across the ice to avoid slipping and falling on my ass. Isana looked relived, partly because, despite all the practice she'd been getting over the last two or three days, she was not comfortable as a rider, but mostly because she was not anticipating what was coming. She was willing enough to let me fight for her, but Isana was a pacifist at heart, she understood that battles were necessary in this case, but she didn't like them. She might not be eager for a fight, but she was anxious to get to her son.

Yoruichi looked at the two of us ready to go.

"I don't know who's crazier here," the cat-woman said as she leaped from the platform to the back of the not-horse Isana was perched on. "You for going, him for following, or me for not leaving you both."

* * *

**Thanks so much to all the wonderful reveiws for the last chapter! I'm glad everyone liked it and it wasn't too over the top and turned people off my story. This chapter's a little short, just getting some scouting in. Isana's got a new ability and that should prove useful. Uh-oh, I just thought of something... now that she's got Shivna-Vatu's ice ability, Rukia might redundant for a while. Nah! That'll never happen!** Thanks again for all your support, and I hope to hear your thoughts on this one.


	53. First Contact

Travel along the ice was treacherous, the not-horse had claws to dig into the ice and gain traction that way but I was not quite so lucky. I slipped and slid a little before I regained the trick of walking on ice. I'd had to learn how when I'd been a kid, since the fish went into torpor and stealing could be dangerous in the winter because a merchant could use footprints in the snow to track a thief back to where he laired if the thief wasn't careful, knowing how to walk over ice was a necessary skill for survival.

It took longer this time since there were three of us and we weren't flash-stepping but eventually we reached a point where I could sense the magic growing much stronger. We were almost there.

I signaled that they should get low and stay there. I crept up ahead to see if I could get a good look at my prey and after a moment or two of spiriting myself silently over the ice-path that spread itself before me at a quiet command from Isana, I spied the clearing where I'd previously observed the three shadows. There was only _one _now. The strange spell- circle seemed to be glowing more brightly and the bead, or gem, or whatever it hovering in the air over the center of the inky pool over-top the glowing circle-diagram was definitely looking a lot brighter. Oddly enough, the Shadow seemed to have changed as well. Where it had once been nothing but a formless cloud of inky black darkness looking slight more _substantial _in the middle in some undefinable way, the Shadow as it was now had a definite outline.

I paused and looked at it. It was black, an inky black that shimmered with starlight ever so slightly and instead of being a nebulous cloud, it now had a vague form, I couldn't tell if it walked on two feet or four, the forelimbs were massive and the claws at the end of his paws were big enough to slice a man in half. Before my eyes, the indefinite lump of a head began to take on actual shape, it grew a snout that was long with teeth protruding from it, the trunk-like neck elongated and the shoulders widened out. The spine stretched and the hind-legs became more defined, claws grew out from the ends of the feet. It was powerfully built, and surrounded by a deep shadow that spread out like a pool of ink at its feet, the diagram of the spell glowed out from under the inky-dark.

It was growing right before my eyes...

:_I'll attack it before it has a chance to finish_!: I thought eagerly, rushing in over the ice and leaping into the air, Zabimaru shikai-ing on my downswing.

I hit it with a textbook diagonal slash across its torso, bi-secting it with a long gash. In my experience with Hollows, that thing was toast.

:_I don't see what Yoruichi was making such a big deal about_,: I thought smugly to myself as I waited for it to disintegrate. :_This thing wasn't any more difficult to defeat than yer average low-rank Hollow.:_

Except that it wasn't disintegrating. In fact that gash I'd just cut into its chest stitched itself whole like it had never been. That was just _not fair_. I hated it when enemies regenerated themselves.

"Alright, bub, ya want me ta cutcha up? That's jus' fine with me," I muttered, stalking in for a good swing.

I charged in and started laying waste to the beast. It wasn't putting up much of a fight as I hacked and bashed away at it. In fact it didn't seem to be affected at all...

I sliced through where its tendons should be and it didn't even flinch. What the hell was this thing _made _of?

:_I don't get it, why aren't any of my blows affecting it_?: I thought to myself.

I tried to circle around, I was wary of touching that magical circle with the liquid shadow in the center. When my foot came close to the edge of the shadow of the Shadow-creature I got a reaction for the first time. It turned its trunk-like torso to look at me and one of its massive forelimbs sliced at me in a blur of speed. I had just enough time to doge out of its way, the longest of its fore-claws missed me by inches.

:_Finally_!: I thought in anticipation. :_Now we're getting somewhere_.:

That first motion seemed to rouse the creature from out of its slumber, and like any beast upon being wakened, it was not terribly happy about it. It swiped at me again, even half-asleep this thing was fast... comparable to Captain Kuchiki's level two flash-step.

I flashed out of the way of its left-hand slash only to find myself nearly caught by its backswing. I brought Zabimaru around in time to block the strike and when its foreclaw met my blade the impact felt a lot like a building falling on me. I was forced backward through the soft ground of the swamp.

I used the slight pause in the battle to open out two of my chakra and sent a flare of Reiatsu down my blade, preparatory to a swing, but it moved with a speed that was definitely superhuman as it dodged out of the way and knocked me flat onto the ground with and overhand strike that was so hard I heard a rib crack on impact. I ignored the pain, shoving the concerns of the flesh to the back of my mind, as i rolled out of the way of its follow-up stomp and kipped to my feet. It blurred to my left and I flashed out of the way as one of its claws raked the air where I'd just squirmed out of the way. My reflexes were the only thing that saved me from being nearly decapitated by its right fore-claw as it lashed like a fencing sword for my throat, I bent backwards, the tip of the claw nipping to tip of my nose and flicking tiny droplets of blood over my cheeks. I threw my weight feet-up in a spring up over my head, my body wight supported by one hand as I simultaneously shoved a massive flare of Reiatsu down Zabimaru's tang to gather at its diamond-head tip.

"Denkou Hou!" I cried, releasing the reiatsu blast even as I was still upside down in mid-flip. I didn't hesitate to gather another flare at the tip a split second after I fired off the fist one. I didn't know if the first one had landed or not but I wasn't interested in taking chances.

The Shadow-creature disappeared from the path of the reiatsu flare and as I landed lightly on my toes I whipped my blade downward shouting the attack command as I released. The thing swung at the flare-orb as it tore its way through the air at him. He knocked it from mid-air with his blackened-dark forepaw. The resulting explosion made me pull Zabimaru around as a shield. Once the smoke and the spray of swamp-water cleared from the air it stood there, looking at me. It didn't do anything else, there was no taunting or anything in its stance to portray smugness, but just the fact that the thing hadn't seemed to be affected by it at all kinda ticked me off a little.

I wasn't one to just let an enemy stand there mocking me by standing there, so I rushed at it again, opening up my third chakra and sending a more powerful burst down the center of Zabimaru as I feinted a swing to its left. As expected he blurred to the right to avoid it and I pivoted on my follow-through and blasted out a powerful Denkou-Hou at practically touching-distance. The flare blinded me a bit but my senses didn't pick up any movement nearby, sudden or otherwise. I felt a small feeling of elation when my vision cleared and I saw that my enemy had been knocked back a couple of feet and was missing a piece of its forearm. Still, it just seemed to look blankly back at me.

I frowned at it while it did nothing. What kind of enemy _was _this thing?

The spell circle under the pool of shadow-stuff that the Shadow-creature seemed to be guarding flared up a bit more and it seemed to me that things started to get a little darker. I cautiously tried to keep one eye on the enemy before me and glance at the sky as well. It wasn't just my imagination... the sky was getting darker. The patches of dark Nothing that had been only minute missing bits were starting to spread, like someone putting a ciggarette to the edges of a paper, the paper didn't light up in flames but and edge of crimson would slowly eat away at it.

:_Some serious juju goin' on here_,: I thought, unnerved.

I pulled my concentration back to the Shadow before me wondering if I should engage it again or report back.

:_Might as well report in, this could be important_,: I thought.

I flashed off to the left and zig-zagged my way indirectly back the place where Isana and Yoruichi were waiting for me... no sense in leading the Shadow right back to them. However, I was not pursued.

"Renji! What happened?" Isana asked urgently as soon as she saw me. I'd sort of forgotten about the head injury.

"Played a round with that shadow-beast," I grunted even as she pulled me over and down to get a better look at me.

"It's a flesh wound," I assured her.

She frowned and promptly ignored me. I couldn't contain a small grunt of pain when she tested my ribs.

"Sit down," she commanded as she held her hands before her and that green healing-diagram wrote itself in the air between her cupped hands.

"You don't need to-" I protested by reflex.

The collar at my throat flared up and sat me down. Hard. I glared balefully over at her. Sooner rather than later we were going to have a serious talk about that damn spell of hers and what she was allowed to do with it. The beam of green light shot out from the center of the healing diagram in between her hands and and swept over me, I was engulfed in a wave of well-being every bit as strong and effective as anything that even Lieutenant Isane Kotetsu of Fourth Division could produce. My ribs weren't hurting anymore, that was for certain.

"How unusual," Yoruichi said quietly. "Is it like Orihime Inoue's abilities do you think?"

"Nah, I'm pretty sure it's different," I replied as she finished up her healing. "She doesn't get the abilities from inside her like the girl does, she learns it from... why doncha show her, Miss Isana?" I said.

Isana smiled a bit and with a graceful gesture with her hands the pentacle from the Court of Genbu on her wrist began to glow with an emerald green light.

"By right and power granted by the Earth Court and by our contract together, hear my call and come to my aid... Carbuncle, I summon thee!"

Out of the now mirror-sized disk held in front of her, rippling silvery-white with green edges like the surface of a pond hopped the little weasel-badger-rabbit thing with multiple sets of pinkish-red gemstone eyes and aqua colored fur. It squeaked cutely at us and hopped its furry little self right up into Isana's arms. I could feel a sense of Healing radiating from it like heat from a fire; all the minor little aches and pains that I'd accrued over the last several days that Isana's healing hadn't taken care of dissiapted as though they'd never been.

Yoruichi looked in awe at the little ferret-thing and remarked on the power that emanated out from it. Isana related the tale of how I'd won its contract from the Earth Court on her behalf then re-expanded her pentacle again and sent the little thing back to its Realm once more, adding

"It costs me in energy to keep one of the Guardian Spirits here in his plane with me so I can't do it often or for very long at a time. The spells they teach me though, are a lot easier to use than summoning one of the Guardian Spirits themselves. However, the spells I can handle without them aren't nearly as powerful as the ones they can handle on my behalf."

"How perfectly fascinating!" Yoruichi celebrated. "Have you ever tested it?"

"N-not really, no," Isana said. "The closest I've come was when I was visiting the elves and showing off for them. I summoned them all one after the other but I didn't use any of their powers or their special abilities. I've used Carbuncle once, when Renji was poisoned by a lake monster..."

For some reason, she was smiling widely at that and I decided that I really didn't want to know what was going through her mind right then.

"You should try it out as soon as you can, perhaps when we stop for the night tonight, just so you know what your limits are and how to use them in a fight," Yoruichi recommended.

I nodded agreement.

"I'm healed, you got the recorder?" I asked Isana.

She held it up and I fed it a little reiatsu and gestured she should point it at me.

"Is it on?" I asked her.

"It's going, go ahead," she replied.

"Reporting in again," I replied, feeling a little silly about it. "Tracked the Shadows down again but two of them are gone, the one that remains seems to be..."

I frowned, uncertain how to put it.

"It seems to be growing a _body_. I engaged the enemy, hoping to destroy it before it could finish generating... even unfinished, it's fast, and strong. Speed comprable to Captain Kuchiki's level two flash-step, strength on par to an ass-beating from Zaraki, when he's only half sober. I've experienced both, this thing's got power to spare. Speaking of power, the strange diagram that was glowing in my last recon-run, that's purpose I wasn't certain of I have... a conjecture. During my battle I scored a good sized hit on the shadow-beast with my reiatsu, it knocked the creature back and removed one of its limbs, the thing took a second to recover, in that second, the diagram beneath the Shadow-beast's shadow got brighter for a moment. The sky got darker and it seemed to me that I definately noticed an increase in the size and number of those patches of sky where there is nothing."

I pointed up and around, gesturing that Isana should capture images of the missing bits of sky-scape and she obediently took footage of it, lingering on one patch that seemed to be growing larger faster than anyo of the others.

"I believe though I don't know, nor can I prove, that this Shadow is able to grow a body by sucking the power that this world is made of up into that spell-circle."

I thought for a moment to see if there was anything else I wanted to say.

"Also," I added, after a moment. "In case I can't get any footage later, I think I should mention the presence of a strange sort of bead or crystal. It was hovering over the center of the diagram, right behind where the Shadow-beast was forming up. It was glowing brightly, visible plainly, even in broad daylight. In addition to that, aside of the spell-circle there was one other thing that might be significant though I don't know how. Inside the spell circle, flowing right out to its edge was some kind of shaddowy-substance. It was pure black, and it looked kind of thick and liquid-like at the same time. Sorta like if ya spilled an ink-pot and let it sit and get thick. It shimmered a bit and the glowing lines and funny glyphs from that spell circle showed through from under it."

I hesitated and then went on, after all, he'd said that I was to include some of my own thoughts in the report.

"I can make a few guesses based on what I've learned from the nature spirits; I think the Shadows that have faded from what they were a long time ago are itchin' ta get hold of new power because I'm almost certain that they need power to take form an' shape, I think they've suddenly found a way ta get some. I think those funny beads and that spell circle have a lot ta do with it. I don't have any answers as ta how or why, but Yoruichi here- say hi Yoruichi!"

The recording device turned to capture the cat cleaning her whiskers on the back of the not-horse and she gave a long level stare that encompassed Isana me and the recording device and said

"Hello, brat."

"Ain't she a charmer?" I commented dryly. "Anyway, she's joined up and we're going to look into it. I'll update as soon as I've got something more for ya. Lieutenant Abarai, Sixth Squad, out."

Isana lowered the recording device and I cut off the reiatsu stream.

"Whatcha think?" I asked Yoruichi, feeling a little smug about my idea of getting rid of the paper and just recording my reports directly.

"I think he's still going to make you write it out when you get home, after all, you can't file that," Yoruichi replied, sounding as amused as ever.

I slumped down in disappointment, knowing perfectly well she was right.

"Are we going to get finding my son sometime today?" Isana demanded with an edge to her tone.

"The Gate we want is on the other side o' that Shadow-circle," i informed her. "If we wanna find out where our quarry is going, then we're going to have to defeat that Shadow-beast first."

"Are you sure you're just not itching for a re-match?" Isana said skeptically.

Ah, she was getting to know me better.

"Noooo..." I said, only _partly _lying. I did want to take it on again, but it was also true that it was in our way.

"Really..." she said, still skeptical.

"Well anyway, thanks for the heal-up. We should get going, time's a'wasting."

Isana and Yoruichi exchanged a long, very _female _look that transcended the need for words.

"Might as well let him," Yoruichi said in reply. "He's right when he says we have to go through it anyhow and I doubt it'll just kindly step aside and let us pass."

Inwardly I celebrated a little. I had spent so long chasing Shadows, I was glad I was finally, at long last going to get a chance to fight one in a battle. I'd be the first Soul Reaper perhaps ever to take on a Shadow!

:_Put that way_...: I thought with a rising feeling of elation.

I was going to get to do something no-one, not my own Captain, maybe not even the Captain of First Division, in the whole Seireitei had ever done before! Man! I'd get to be the very first Soul Reaper ever to fight one of these things!

:_Of course, that also means that there's no known way to defeat it_,: I thought to myself with a small frission of nerves.

Fighting arrancars and Espada were one thing; they might be super-Hollows enhanced by the Hougyoku but in the end they were still Hollow's, and defeating Hollows was a Soul Reapers job. Hunting down the Hollow-equivalent of Elemental Spirits fell somewhat outside of the usual job description of even a high level officer of the Court of Pure Souls.

:_But by interfering in the balance of souls in Soul Society, they placed themselves within my job description, so whether they're an enemy I'm already used to or something entirely new, I already know what I need ta do_.:

I stopped feeling hesitant and was washed over by the sort of calm that always came when I had made my decision and had accepted the possibility that I would not see the next day, but the thought that I would lose was far from my mind. I wanted to win. I wanted to defeat the enemy before me and complete my mission; more to the point I wanted to be able to get rid of the damned collar and return home to Rukia. I was not going to allow my resolve to waver. My feet were firmly upon the path and I would not be turned from it. My strength and focus turned inward, refining myself and my spiritual blade sharpened inside my heart. I was ready for the battle.

* * *

**Sorry it took me so long to get this posted, I was at the end of my list of pre-loaded chapters with the last one, but it took me a little while to get back to my computer and load up some more, then I got distracted and forgot to edit and post. So... I hope you all enjoyed this chapter as a small taste of things to come. The next chapter contains (in my personal opinion as the writer) the best fight scene in the whole story so far. Certainly it is the longest. This baby weighs in at over seven-thousand words, all of them action packed fight. So please look forward to it! **

**(P.S. remember to leave a contribution if you please...)  
**


	54. Shadowbeast

We continued down the ice-path approaching where the Shadow-beast was doing whatever the heck it was doing near that Gate to the next world. I could feel the strange spiritual presence of the Shadows growing stronger as we got closer, and I was a little dismayed to note that it had gotten even stronger from the time I had fought it just a little while ago.

"It's up ahead," I murmured softly.

Sure enough there was a break in the tree line and Isana brought the recording device around to record the scene before us. It wasn't that different from the time I had just scouted, except that there were a few craters from where my Denkou-Hou's had landed and the Shadow-beast seemed to be even larger and more defined since the last time I'd seen it. It was sort of the difference between a child's blobby little clay animal and a cast-clay figure fired by a professional. I was certain it wasn't made of flesh and bone, this betrayed by the obsidian-like glimmer along every line and curve of its body, the light reflecting off the ridges and valleys made by muscle and bone, by places and by what passed for hide on the beast as if from black marble.

The Shadow beast wasn't just a huge blob-ish obsidian-black hulk of teeth and claws now, it had refined from a roughly-shaped four-limbed thing into something that resembled a real shape. The Shadowbeast had a long whip-like tail with a serration of sparks on one side of it that traveled up along its spinal column, up its back, growing gradually larger. It's hind-feet with haunch-like but slim like a hunting cats, made for powerful leaps and they were much smaller than its forelimbs. It's back claws were shorter and thicker than the ones up front, made for eviscerating its prey by rabbit-kick or gripping onto the soil for traction. The torso featured a trim, muscular abdomen and despite the teeth adorning its spine, it looked flexible, wiry and tough. Its rib-cage was protected by a dark-grey bony plate-armor covering it all the way to it's wide, powerful hunched shoulders that featured a burst of spike-like protrusions jutting in all directions. From the shorter back-limbs the gaze traveled up and up and up to its massive haunch shoulders. The long wiry, muscled forelimbs could be used both to claw and to help it run. It's fore-claws were long as swords on paws with long flexible digits. A long triangular head filled with long, gleaming obsidian tusks was supported on a powerful trunk of a neck that hung the skull low, enabling it to snap and turn with great reach and maneuverability. This thing was lean, sharp and very dangerous-looking.

I drew Zabimaru with a hiss of steel and smiled.

Just the way I liked 'em.

"Missy," I said, looking over at her and catching her eyes to show her that I was serious about what I was saying. "You stay back here and let us do the fighting. Yoruichi and I will handle it, but if we get injured we're going to need a healer and that's you. Stay hidden and safe back here so you can heal us up if we need it. Got it?"

"I can fight!" she protested. "What's the point of me having fighting Guardian Spirits like Djinn and Crusher if I don't get to _use _them?"

She looked like she was actually a little offended that we asked her to hang back.

"Use them another time," I said firmly. "This is gonna be a tough fight, and if you have to be nearby we'd both feel better if we didn't have to worry about where you are."

Isana crossed her arms and made a hmph-ing noise, but Tanner lowered his bulk to the ground.

"Hurry up cat, or I won't leave any for you," I said.

I knew that I had my feral grin on my face.

"Don't get cocky, boy..." the masculine cat's voice trailed off.

There was a strange sound from behind me, then a rustle of fabric.

"Or I won't leave any for you," the feminine Yoruichi of her woman-form finished.

I glanced behind me and there, wearing a pair of Isana's stretchable pants that were more like capris on a woman as tall as Yoruichi was (compared to Isana at least) and a halter top that strained nearly to bursting across the bust (and missed covering her stomach by about three inches) and no footwear was the Goddess of Flash herself.

:_I'm kinda seein' why the Second Squad Captain is so very obsessed with her_,: I thought to myself, genetically unable to keep from appreciating the lovely view.

It really was a pity that she spent so much time as a cat.

"Last one in catches dinner!" I said with a howl of pure exuberance.

I flashed in to attack the shadow-beasts forelimb. It seemed to regard my attack as no real threat to it for some reason and I was about to show it otherwise. I swung downwards, aiming for its torso and could have swore I hit it, but... my blade passed through nothing. Well, it hadn't quite been nothing, after many decades of battle in very different battlefield conditions I could tell even minute differences in the air around me by how my blade sliced through the air, whether the air was moist or dry, filled with smoke or dust, or where the wind was coming from or if there was an object nearby. There was definitely something in the air and my blade passed right through it, but it met with no impact. I heard a battle-yell come from another part of the shadowbeast nearby, while I had been attacking it from the front, Yoruichi had flashed around and behind it to try to nail a vital. I was a little gratified to note that she hadn't made any more of a dent in it than I had. I did note that when she attacked, it seemed to flicker a little.

We both flashed back to avoid its counter attack. Whether or not my blade had managed to land a blow or had somehow missed it, the beast counter attack was substantial enough; I could feel the wind that it displaced whisper against my skin as it just barely missed me. Even my flash-step was barely fast enough to get us out of the way of its swift reprisal. It was a blur of grey on black and fluid movements of shadow that barely even registered on my senses before it's claws were nearly at my face. I leaped to its right as its massive head lunged at me, teeth snapping. By reflex I swiped at its exposed neck, and passed again through a nothingness that wasn't quite nothingness. The shadowbeast's hand shot out to grab me, however and I brought my un-shikai'ed Zabimaru around to block the move. A mistake. With such casual strength and speed that it looked like the blow couldn't possibly hurt, it knocked its fisted forepaw into me and sent me flying through the air in an arc. The impact hit me like a pile-driver, knocking wind and blood out of my body. I was kinda wishing I'd taken the elves up on their offer for some (armor is for wimps) armor right then. I'd forgotten how delicate a mortal shell could be. The feeling of flesh and bone jolting and jarring with every little impact as I rolled along to distribute my momentum reminded me rather painfully that I didn't really have time to play around.

"Ho-"

The shikai-ing of my blade was interrupted by a strange, almost metallic shrieking sound, sort of like the sound of metal being rent in half. I looked up from my crouch to see the shadowbeast rear up onto its hind legs and cup its forepaws to on either side of its chest and in the air between it hands gathered a sphere of darkness that seemed to crackle with a negative power. Whatever that thing was, it couldn't be good.

A heartbeat later the orb launched itself with dizzying speed at the spot I was standing in, and I dodged and rolled out of the way, only to be caught by the blast of its impact hitting the ground. Soil and rocks went flying up into the air, making visibility not so good for me right then.

A moment later the shadowbeast jerked its maw around to face behind him instead of concentrating on me. I saw Yoruichi's body flicker in and out of different spots, her actual motion too fast for my eyes, who was growing accustomed to seeing the Kuchiki move it when he wanted to, to follow. No wonder they called her the Goddess of Flash, she could give the brat in Bankai mode a run for his money.

:_I wonder_...: I thought vaguely.

The notion of trying out Snakeys enhanced speed senses out to see if I could actually track her occurred to me. But I recalled what Zabimaru had said about it; using that power came with prices, first among them a severe drain on the amount of energy I could handle at the current time (meaning I wouldn't be able to keep up the speed for very long) followed in a close second by the fact that once I did come out of the trance-like state I would be severely disoriented. I wasn't sure I could afford taking the risk in this battle.

I closed my eyes and opened another chakra ,gathering up my reiatsu, curious to know if I could shikai him while simultaneously pushing power down his blade instead of doing one and waiting and doing the other.

"Howl! Zabimaru!" I commanded.

The long, wide, elegant hour-glass-shaped diamond-headed blade seemed to burst out into being, and it was already glowing with my reiatsu, a glowing coppery color like the amber disk of the sun as it was just touching the horizon. I pushed more power into it and sprang back into the battlefield. A fore-claw swiped at me, coming from right to left; I flash-ducked and swerved, just flashing out of the way of its second, downward swing and launched myself up into the air to avoid the back-swing from its right paw.

"Denshou Hou!" I cried gathering power at the tip of the blade and launching it with a swing of Zabimaru's blade even as I hung in mid-air avoiding its swiping paw.

The shadowbeast blurred out of the path of my reiatsu-strike. That was the problem with straight-line reiatsu attacks like arrows or even burst-shots like the brat's Getsu Gatensho, they worked in a straight line in only one direction and if an enemy can see it coming and spot its trajectory it could dodge out of the way, forcing me to waste energy in dealing out more attacks.

Might as well try to see if my onmi-directional attack would work. I gathered a greater amount of reiatsu and concentrated into a great shining halo around the tip of Zabimaru.

"Raikou Enjin!" I shouted, launching the ring of individual reiatsu bursts circling in to wheel around the shadowbeast.

"Ha!" I kirrup-ed as I landed and mentally ordered the reiatsu blasts, like my higa zekkou attack with snaketail, to dart in on the target they surrounded.

The orbs of power closed in and met in the center with a great explosion that made me stagger for a moment. I waited for the air to clear enough to see if it had been effective against the shadowbeast. Two pin-points of scarlet light appeared in the haze that obscured the air after the explosion from Raikou Enjin. I had a feeling that it wasn't from Yoruichi. I wasn't sure how it had managed to dodge it, but somehow my attack must have missed because the beast showed not the least sign of wear from the attack. It didn't have a single scratch n it. Was it somehow flash-stepping out of the way, faster than I could perceive it?

"Shakahou!" the voice of yoruichi said from somewhere in the crowd.

I could feel her reiastu flickering about the battlefield, like the heartbeat of a humming bird, she didn't stay still long enough for me to register her presence as anything but a brief flicker on my senses. Her first attack was followed quickly by another and the Shadowbeast dodged both of them easily, snaking out of the way with a limber blur of motion. Her third attack continued to herd it to the right. Seeing what she was up to, i flashed in on its left as Yoruichi fired off another of her kido attacks. I pushed more power into my blade, making it glow gold-white with power, lightning sparks flickering off from the double edges as I slashed at its side.

I could have sworn my hit landed this time. I felt the blade pass through something that was thicker than the smoke-clogged air, but it wasn't solid. I looked over just barely in time to see the edge of Zabimaru slice into the obsidian-night form of the shadowbeast, the edges of what would have been a wound on anything else separated into whorls and eddies like someone passing thier hand through smoke. That was why my hits were not registering, they were just passing right through it! Was the shadowbeast even real?

The momentum of my attack on the creature carried me closer to the strange shadow-covered spell-array than i had gotten in the battle so far, and I was about to stick my sword in it to bring myself around when suddenly the thing was on me like white on rice.

My wondering question was answered a moment later when, the shadowbeast moved faster than a snake striking, turning at bay and, crouching down, it opened its mouth and let out an enormous basso roar almost directly into my face. The shrill sound of tearing metal that characterized its roar wasn't the only aspect of the attack, a gout of jagged black edged with star-shimmer launched itself from inside its gaping jaws and straight at me. Like a lightning strike it happened in an instant, it was so fast that I didn't quite have time to bring zabimaru around to block the attack. On reflex my body twisted to one side to avoid most of its attack and the blast caught me in the shoulder. I went flying back, my limbs and body gyrating wildly at odd angles in the air, and my shoulder burned and my ribs made a soft crackling sound, like the sound of a branch cracking. I curled up and rolled automatically and a sharp pain flared up from the action.

:_I think one of my ribs just cracked_,: I thought distantly to myself even as righted myself and shoved my feet into the ground to skid to a stop.

The force of the shadowbeasts glancing blow was enough to make me skid against the ground for several feet before I wore out enough force through friction to stop. I paused, frowning. My battle instincts told me that I might have just stumbled across the key. To test my theory, I flashed in a wide circle out to my right.

"Keep it busy!" I yelled over to Yoruichi as I flashed quickly right on past where she was quickly evading the shadowbeasts foreclaw and black-lightning attacks before she could ask me what I was doing.

I pushed another burst of reiatsu down to the end of my blade on the run as I rushed at the spell-array that was covered in liquid shadow, the red glowing gem floating in the air over the center, pulsing steadily like a heartbeat. I launched myself upwards sending more power down my blade in a wave as I brought my blade up over my head and struck downwards. I was targeting the gem, hovering there in the center like a target. I wasn't exactly sure what it was or what it did but I was certain that it had to be important because that shadowbeast seemed to be protecting it.

I had a clear shot and was already inwardly congratulating myself on my victory as the glowing edge of Zabimaru sliced cleanly through the air towards the glowing red bead. I did not hit it. Just as the edge of the sword was about to split the floating gem there was a sudden reddish flare of power and a shield made of lines of power with single flowing inside them like ticker-type appeared around it like a multifaceted gemstone, sealing the stone away. The power of the blast held me suspended, frozen in mid air for an eternal moment before it flared up and sent me flying backwards. There was a loud roar that made my bones tremor from the shadowbeast behind me but even as I was in mid-air I kept my eyes firmly on the gemstone. Hidden behind the translucent multi-faced shield the red gemstone slowly began to sink into the spell array covered by liquid shadow. The surface of the pool underneath it rippled and moved on its own.

I let my blody slam into the ground, and instead of rolling with it, I stabbed Zabimaru into the dirt, burying him mid-length and used my backward momentum to slingshot myself around pushing my feet up into the air to launch myself higher and pulling Zabimaru up and out then around as I went. I was flying over to make another downward strike at the stone that was slowly lowering itself to the ground when I was interrupted by a wiry whip-like tail. I noted absently that the shadowy surface of its hide shimmered in the light from Zabimaru. It looked like someone had scattered winking black diamonds underneath the surface of its body and they winked and flashed with every movement it made. The shadowbeast looked somehow more substantial. It felt substantial as the tail swooped in and knocked me out of the air like Jinta hitting a homerun. I went flying back again. As a final insult the beast finally managed a powerful downward crushing stroke with one of its massive forelimbs, the blow hit me, almost literally, like a ton of bricks. I went down. My head rang and i felt myself coughing blood even as I registered the sound of multiple bones snapping.

:_I hate being mortal_,: I thought distantly in that second I had before the pain hit me.

So did the ground. I rolled again, but this time, instead of curling into a ball my body just rolled flat-out for a moment and I then slid, face-down, along the ground for a long minute. I tried to get up, pushing myself up by my arms but one of them was broken and I slumped back down, gasping in pain. Pain was really different when you were stuck in a mortal body. I'd been injured many times on the battlefield, some of them came within a hairsbreadth of ending my afterlife for good (Kuchiki), but i could honestly say that it felt different with flesh. For one thing, it seemed that it was weaker than spirit, certainly it seemed to break more easily. I groaned in pain and tried to move.

"...Hear my call and come to my aid! Djinn, I summon thee!" a dismayingly familiar voice said from behind me.

:_When I get this over with, I'm going to strangle the woman_!: I thought hotly through the haze of pain that had overtaken my senses.

Why couldn't she just stay back there like we told her to? She would have been safer and i might have gotten a breather for a moment to think about the thought that had occurred to me in mid-air as I watched the little stone sink into the inky pool of darkness with a little ripple and the pool had started to move on its own. Now I had to pull up and get back in there without thinking about what it might mean. That was alright, I was really more of a fly by the seat of my pants style of fighter rather than a strategizer.

The great flame-maned beast stepped out of the circle of fire and roared in announcement of its presence on the battlefield. I'd forgotten how impressive it looked.

"Djinn! Flame-rain!" Isana commanded, gesturing with her flaming staff.

The beast threw its head back and roared into the air. At the tip of it snout a great orb of flame and power gathered in and expanded, growing ever greater until it reached a size that was as big as i was tall then, with a swat of its forepaw, Djinn smacked the orb of flame into the air. A moment later the Guardian Spirit leaped straight up after it, rolling once in the air, it smashed its paws down on the giant flaming fireball and shattered it into a thousand smaller fireballs that rained down on the shadowbeast circling in and making many smaller impacts that added up to a great fire. Silhouetted in its center was the dark of the shadowbeast.

It wasn't even flinching.

"Get back!" I roared over at Isana, or I would have if breathing hadn't been so painful right then.

What came out was a strangled growl. Isana ignored me, ignored me! and directed her Guardian Spirit to gather another attack. I was going to kill her, once i got her thick-headed carcass back to safety.

"Djinn! Flame-rain!"

I could only watch somewhat helplessly as I tried to get my battered body to pull itself together and get back in the fight. it wasn't working so well, I needed a healer.

:_If she had to push her way onto the field the least she could do was heal me like she's supposed to instead of fighting_,: i grumbled to myself as I thrust the point of Zabimaru into the dirt and used him as a cane to lever my tired mortal shell up to its knees.

I leaned heavily against it for a moment and contemplated the task of getting to my feet. Meanwhile the Guardian Spirit had completed its attack and once more the shadowbeast seemed spectacularly unaffected by it. Yoruichi had appeared at Isana's side sometime in the middle of its second attack. That was a relief, sort of, at least she'd have someone to get her out of there.

After the second attack, Isana looked like she was starting to feel weak in the knees and she banished Djinn through the portal to his own realm and looked over at me.

"Are you okay Renji?" she asked worriedly.

"No!" I snapped. "Get your ass back to the horse before that thing tears your head off!"

The Shadow beast moved faster than i could easily track it and i was accustomed to watching my opponents move really really fast. it was headed straight towards Isana and Yoruichi. I was closer. Without consciously thinking about it (or knowing how I achieved it) I found myself on my feet and moving despite the pain, moving to intercept the shadowbeast before it could attack Miss Isana. I ran forward into the fire that was still burning around the great beasts hulking form and launched myself at it, Zabimaru out and swinging. I'd given my word to protect her and I was a man of my word.

"Hoi! Hoooiii!" I called, attracting the sourceless attention of the shadowbeast who reared back and turned to face me.

"That's right, I'm right here!"

:_With a sprained ankle and a dislocated shoulder_,: I finished internally.

I'd fought on worse before... maybe.

The shadowbeast eeled out of the way of my attack with a lightning-quick fluid movement and replied with a swing of its fisted forepaw that I intercepted with Zabimaru. I could feel the impossible strength behind the blow, fully as powerful as anything Zaraki had ever dealt out, jolting down the length of Zabimaru and sending me crashing to the earth but I managed to keep my feet underneath me. I held my ground as it crushed down on me, its fist pressing down, trying to flatten me. I held, pushing back with all my strength. It redoubled its efforts, the weight and pressure of its shove was incredible, my feet were slowly dragged backwards, the earth itself giving way before I would and the furrows I rent in the turf went up to my knees. Making no progress by merely leaning on me and pushing, it pulled back and then swung down at me with a growl. The shadow-shimmer forepaw crashed into Zabimaru with the force of a landslide barreling down. i became the epicenter of a crater bursting into the ground around me as a result of its swing. I felt my arms begin to buckle despite my resolve, and I tried in vain to shove it back, even just and inch. it was so damn strong, I'd never felt power like this before.

:_That's funny_,: a detached part of my noted even as i struggled against the might of the shadowbeast. :_Its arms are the only thing with that star-shimmer in it_...:

I raked my gaze over it from around the glowing blade of Zabimaru and noted that my observation was basically a valid one. It's body was matte-black, a tone that did not seem to reflect any light at all, except for the ends of its back haunches, its tail and its forelimbs where it was in contact with my blade. Partly out of desperation and partly out of inspiration, and partly because i needed to test something, I gathered a mass of power up and shoved it down my blade, causing it to light up blindingly and focused the power at the tip. I had a haunch.

"Denskou Hou!" I shouted, shooting the blast from the tip of Zabimaru right directly into its face.

It passed right through it, even leaving behind a hole in the skull of the beast for a moment. The odd thing about the wound was that it did not resemble any kind of wound I'd ever seen before, not like a tear made in the physical form of a creature. it was like I'd punched a hole into a thick cloud of smoke, it filled in quickly. The Shadow gazed down at me, its eyes glowing red. I heard my heartbeat pound through my head.

:_It's not all completely solid_!:

It seemed my guess had been right. It looked like the only parts of it that were substantial were the parts that actually came into contact with the world. The rest of it was just a shadow...

:_Just a shadow_...: I thought, a feeling of realization dawning on me.

The Denkou Hou that I'd fired it had caught it off-guard but not for long. It rushed at me, slamming its forelimbs into the ground I had quickly vacated via flash-step the instant I saw it twitch my way. It kept coming at me, I definitely had its attention now. Dust and debris exploded into the air on its every attempt to smash me flat. It's blows were beyond powerful, they were like explosions going off against the ground. I evaded via flash-step, dodging left and right as I retreated. Part of my concentration was on trying to keep out of the powerful blows of the shadowbeast and the other part of my attention was on trying to find what I was looking for.

I glanced frantically around me, searching for it... there! Behind the shadowbeast lay a pool of inky-black shadow, discernible from the twilight-shadows beginning to grow long all around me only by the slightly ink-like gleam inside the matte-black shadows of absent light.

I tried to make for it, but before I could move, the other forelimb clashed against Zabimaru, trying to flatten me. I flared more reiatsu down into the length of Zabimaru and shoved back. He pulled his other limb back and slammed it into Zabimaru's edge, trying to break through my guard. The crater around me deepened from the force of its blows. By some miracle I held fast.

:_So damn strong... I don't think I can hold out_...:

::**_Open up your fourth chakra_**,:: Zabimaru's voice told me in my head. It was Baboon King Zabimaru, when he gave advice it was always worth listening to. So far I had only really be able to handle the power up to my third chakra, anything beyond that had thus far been too much for me to handle.

::**_Push your power into the blade. Then strike back_**.::

I didn't hesitate. I threw wide the sluice gate that held all the reiatsu locked behind my fourth chakra and the immense green power of the flooded into me, filling me near to bursting and like a man drowsing I momentarily flailed against the tide, unable to find purchase in the unpredictable currents of power pushing and pulling within me. I hardened my will and mentally slapped my self into sharpening my focus. Straining mentally I managed to wrap myself around that roiling, wild, unpredictable reiatsu of mine and yank and shove into some semblance of order. With a mental heave I shoved it down into Zabimaru who glowed white as the heart of a star, flaring out with purple-white lightning crawling up and down the blade, sparks of white trailing off from its edge like the tail of a comet. Then as i poured the last of the power I could gather into the blade an unexpected thing happened. The pressure of the Shadowbeast, which until now had been up to my limit, suddenly slackened off. I was no longer driven to one knee, just barely able to keep my sword from pressing back onto me, but I could regain my feet and even begin to push back. Maybe it had finally gotten tired?

:_No, it hasn't gotten weaker_,: I realized as I began to push back against the Shadowbeast and its hindpaws clawed at the earth and began to slide slightly backward. Noting this, the shadowbeast disengaged and brought both forelimbs up above its head in a fist and slammed them downward, intending to hit me with its full power.

::**_Strike him! Strike him hard_**!:: Zabimaru howled inside my mind.

I flared out my power into my sword and swung my sword around and up. Our forces met with a flash that was like a sun exploding. I couldn't see, only hold myself against the power that had been unleashed by the clash. The wind howling around me, whipping at my clothes and hair was saturated with energy. The white wind faded after a moment and the shadowbeast went crashing to the ground a few feet away from the blast-crater created by where we had met in battle a moment before. I hadn't just met his blow, I'd knocked him up into the air.

:_He didn't get weaker, I got stronger_,: I realized with a feeling of elation. Whoah! with power like this I was sure to win my next fight! Alright!

::**_Don't get too cocky cub_**,:: Zabimaru warned me dryly into my mind. ::**_Like the Snaketail's increased speed, borrowing my god-like strength, even for a short amount of time, comes with a price of its own. This is especially true with the level you're at right now. You need greater control over your spiritual power, and a great deal more practice, before you can handle the true strength of Baboon King Zabimaru's enhanced strength_**.::

So each of them gave me a different kind of edge, now that my chakra were cleared out. Snaketail gave me enhanced speed, and Baboon King gave me enormous strength. Useful.

I sensed the shadowbeast nearby beginning to climb to its feet.

"Don't he know when ta quit?" I exclaimed as it rose a little shakily to its feet.

::**_ You had best find a way to defeat it and do so quickly before your reiatsu runs out_**,:: Zabimaru said.

"Yoruichi!" I yelled across the battlefeild.

"What?" she asked as she flashed directly to my side. "And after this s over, with by the way, you and I are going to have a little talk."

I frowned at that and dismissed it as secondary right then.

"I got an idea, keep the beast busy!"

I flashed over to Isana's side.

"You remember that Binding Spell, the one fore the Shadows?" I asked without preamble.

"Y-yes," she said, looking perplexed and worried. "Renji you have to let me-"

"Prepare it and keep it ready to use when i tell you," I ordered her.

I didn't have time to stick around and make sure she did it or not, I didn't have long before the effects of my borrowed strength wore off and I needed to get this done before that time.

I flashed back onto the battlefield where Yoruichi was dutifully keeping the Shadowbeast amused. She looked like she was having a good time, but I supposed that a woman who spent so much of her time running around as a cat would have some strange notions of fun.

:_Now, where did it go_?: I wondered to myself as I scanned the nearby terrain. I caught it by a subtle movement of shadow-within-shadow.

On the ground behind the shadowbeast there stretched a long shadow that stretched longer than it should have given the angle of the light, the end of it shimmered like light reflecting off a moonlit lake.

:_Found it_,: I thought triumphantly.

::**_are you sure that that's a wise idea_**?:: Babs questioned me as he caught the edge of my thought on what I intended to do.

:_No_,: I said honestly. :_But I have ta play it. My battlefield instincts are telling me that this is the only way to beat it._::

Zabimaru shrugged mentally and prepared himself. We were goin' in.

I launched myself into the air and took a deep breath, not knowing what i was going to find on the inside. We plunged through the inky black surface of the Shadowbeasts shadow... or maybe the shadowbeast was in fact only the shadow of the real Shadow. I opened my eyes and couldn't tell that I had. I'd never experienced such absolute and total blackness before. There was no light, no sound and i couldn't feel a thing except...

It was cold. It was cold, and there was something pulling at me from the inside out.

:_No_!: I thought in a panic as my spiritual energy began to be pulled from me, sucked out of me the way a sponge absorbs water. it was slight at first but gradually began to mount in force. I was being drained. I flailed around, panicking in this sightless, soundless world I floated in. All thoughts of my mission and why I had chosen to leap down the rabbit hole head-first flew from my head in the midst of my sudden and overwhelming rush of terror. Flailed about in a frenzy, not knowing which way was up or down, desperate to escape before the vaccuum that surrounded me drained me of all of my spiritual essence. I was beyond panic and entering into the realms of hysteria.

::**_Get a hold o' yerself dumbass_**!:: Snakey yelled in my mind.

Not one of my better ideas. I forced myself to remember why I'd come. The stone. I thought I might know what it was, and what it was for. If I was right, then this might be the only way to beat the Shadow. I forced myself to beat back the tide of panic and focus. i sent out a searching burst of reiatsu in all directions, searching for an unfamiliar energy presence.

:_There_!: I thought with a relief that was almost painful. I didn't have long... already I could feel the steady drain of energy really start to take its toll on me, making my thoughts and movements sluggish. I might have to open another chakra and that in and of itself was a danger to me if I couldn't control it.

It was down beneath my feet and slightly to the left of me, at least, I thought it was left, it was so damn hard to tell in this place. Anyway, I began to mentally push myself in that direction. At first I thought my eyes, unaccustomed to such incredible blackness, were playing tricks on me, making me see desperately wanted light where there was none, but after a few long moments of pushing myself the spot of red light began to grow. It wasn't very big in the first place, but it was bright, like a miniature sun, pulsing like a slow heartbeat in the dark. I approached it.

The ruby-lit crystal, a multifaceted round bead the size of a large marble hovered before me and I reached out-

::**_Don't_**,:: Zabimaru warned me.

:_Probably good advice_,: I realized a moment later as the last of my straggling wits finally caught up with me. This crystal was designed to take in energy, touching it with my bare hand was probably a bad idea. So how was i supposed to get it out of there?

:_Ya know whatcha need ta do_...:

I could hear Snakey grinning inside my mind. He was just itchin' ta get out there.

I felt a tug on my neck. The collar flared green, and in the absolute darkness of the shadow-world, I saw a thread of green light trailing through the dark, pointing my way back. It looked like the damned collar had its uses after all. Now I had a direction to get back.

Since I couldn't touch it physically, I was just going to have to knock it out of there. The world around me began to tremble, there was no other way to describe it, it was like I was floating in a huge vat of still water and someone came along and sloshed it around. It's hard to describe, but i got the feeling of something incomprehensibly big and powerful grunting and rumbling in its sleep. Suddenly, i felt like a little mouse scampering by the sleeping form of a tiger, trying to steal its food out from under it.

:_Stupid Renji_,: I admonished myself. :Vain, proud, stupid Renji. Whatever possessed you to try something this half-baked?:

I'd done some pretty damn stupid things in my life, but this one had to be, hands down, the least wise thing I'd ever done.

:_Better hurry up, before whatever that is that made that noise finishes waking up_.:

I held Zabimaru out before me and sheathed Babs' shikai. I felt his presence retreat as the blade shrank back to it quiescent state.

"Roar, Zabimaru!" I commanded. Silhouetted by the ruby light coming off from the stone in this shadow world was the serrated widening form of snaketail Zabimaru. I maneuvered until I was around the other side of the stone, the thread of green light leading the way back to the real world trailing directly out in front of me.

"Bankai!" I shouted.

The Snaketail sprang out with an internal shout of jubilation. A massive serpent of vertebrae held together by sections of my own spiritual power

I lined up my shot.

"Hikutsu Taiho!" I said, sending a massive flare of reiastu down the length of Zabimaru where it blasted out the other end, growing exponentially larger and more powerful with each segment it passed through until it exploded out of Zabimaru's maw, blasting a massive wave of energy straight out to the end. I let Zabimaru pull me along after it. The world around me began to shake and move. The owner of the nothingness around me was aware of its uninvited visitor and it was not happy with the intrusion.

"Let's get out of here!" I urged him onwards, rushing after stone caught up in the crest of the energy wave released from the Hikutsu Taiho I'd fired off. Not a second too soon my eyes made out a black shimmer in front of me, and I burst out of the cold, dead space where there was (almost) no light, no sound, no sensation and into the wildness of the real world.

A great blast of light and shadow bust out all around and beneath me and swirled around me. Zabimaru's blast shredded the shadow around me, dissipating it like smoke before the wind.

"Isana!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. "The stone!"

I pointed at the brightly glowing red crystal still flying into the air.

"Bind it, before the Shadow regains its form!"

It seemed an interminable moment, in which I worried that she wasn't prepared and my risking my life, or worse, my essence, in getting the Shadow's crystal away from it had gone to waste, but I heard her voice, a little timidly, begin to chant.

"The four palaces of Heaven, the four pillars of the world. You who dwell in the North, strong firmament. You who dwell in the East, flowing life. You who dwell in the South, vital energy. You who dwell in the West, breath of wisdom. Form of Ten Thousand Things. Chain of Gold earth-bound be. Shield that encompasses all shapes, sink into the lowest form. Flame that burns away impurity, call the energy. Locks of the zephyr, claim the skies..."

I looked over in time to see Isana surrounded in a whirlwind of energy, light of three different hues swirled around her in a vortex, with motes of rainbow power as big as gold balls flitting like fireflies over a river in and out of the sourceless wind. Her three charms from the charm bracelet were now full-sized circling around her surrounded by a brilliant aura of power. She pointed at the stone.

"Bind!" she commanded firmly.

A blinding burst of power shot out from her fingertip, the power that gathered and swirled around her rushed forward and surrounded the bead. The gem flared out with reddish power, trying to fight against the tide of the binding spell, the inky blackness gathered in around it, trying to protect it, but instead it was pushed down into the gem by the light that surrounded. Like a leaf caught up in a tidal pool, the Shadow had no chance after the light surrounded it. It was engulfed, and with a final flare of light the bead was surrounded by an orb-shaped shield that quickly hardened over turning into a smooth solid crystal ball. The gem which had given us so much trouble sparkled harmlessly from its crystal prison, the center of the bead was dark surrounded by a red glassy gem. The shadowbeast disappeared without a single whimper as soon as the bead was imprisoned.

Anticlimactically, it dropped down harmlessly to the dirt. An instant later, the battle caught up to me, and I joined it, sinking into unconsciousness before my head even hit the ground. My last thought before leaving the world was that I had the proof I needed.

* * *

**Whew! Whadja think? Reveiws are love... love me.**


	55. Tea and Speculation

The first time I tried to fight my way into consciousness I couldn't even open my eyes. My body felt heavy, the kind of heavy that told me that it was going to _take _the rest it needed, regardless of how I felt about it, and trying to fight it was going to be fruitless. I sank back into unconsciousness.

The second time, I managed to crack an eye open, my blurry vision caught sight of the face that I held most dear to me in all the world. Framed in a golden glow was Rukia. I relaxed instantly, if she was there then everything was fine. I think I might have murmured her name, trying to thank her for being there for me before I was pulled under again.

My third attempt at regaining consciousness was a little more successful. I weakly managed to get both of my eyes open this time. I still couldn't move, so I took in what of my surroundings I could see. I was inside a dome-shaped structure made of some kind of silk, covered by a thick blanket, my body supported by what felt sort of like a springy futon. My head pounded, and my throat was dry. I tried to wet my lips and rolled my eyes to my left. There was an opening in the tent and I could see outside. It was broad daylight, close to noon, and we were in a forest somewhere. I was surrounded by the overpowering smell of those Mortal Realm plastics, probably from the tent, but coming in from the opening was the scent of a forest and a campfire nearby and the two women I was traveling with. So we were somewhere safe, or relatively safe any way. Hadn't I been in a swamp?

I still felt weak but I wasn't accustomed to sitting still for very long and I wanted to work the stiffness out of my body, so I slowly pushed back the blankets and sat up. My head brushed the ceiling even at its apex. I waited for the lingering grogginess to dissipate as I gathered my thoughts into order.

I heard the light footsteps of the woman, Isana, pace over next to the tent and saw her shadow silhouetted on the wall. She ducked her head under the flap, clearly coming to check on me.

"Ah, so you're awake," she said cheerfully.

I swallowed against my dry throat and asked if she had any water.

"I have some right here," she said smiling cheerfully. "But first..."

Somehow, there was something that I didn't entirely _trust _about that overly bright smile, I had the oddest feeling that I recognized it from somewhere...

From behind her back she pulled out what looked like a rolled-up booklet or newspaper and advanced on me, still smiling. Her smile looked less friendly and more menacing now. I still couldn't move so I had no choice.

"Idiot!" she yelled at me, swatting me over the head with her impromptu disciplining device.

"Thick-skulled moron!" she continued swatting me again.

Then she got started with a long sting of curses in Spanish, insulting my ancestors and telling me how she thought I might have gotten rid of my brain as a child and what my head was filled with now. Spanish, I had learned, was a very rhythmic language and it gave itself well to being spoken rapidly, and Isana punctuated each melodious epithet with another thwack to the head with her paper teaching rod, beating a staccato rhythm on the top of my head while she chewed me out. In Spanish.

At first I'd tried to flinch back and avoid her "helpful teaching aids" but she just followed me. I tried to shield myself weakly with one arm, it didn't hurt all that much and she had to run out of breath sometime soon.

She did not. She went on to tell me that not only was my head just there for decoration but that all the discipline in the world wasn't going to make me any smarter and on and on. She was angry, but underneath it I could hear the sound of worry.

"Okay! Okay!" I protested finally when i looked like she was gonna start crying. "Geeze, I get it. We beat it, so calm down!"

"I will _not _calm down!" she snapped, hitting me again. "You were hurt and yet you threw yourself at it to protect me and then... _then _you disappeared and I couldn't sense you anywhere. Do you have any idea what it was like for me to watch you disappear right in front of me? I was terrified you'd never come out again!"

"I toldja I had a plan," I grumbled, scratching the back of my neck.

I never really knew what to do with females when they got all emotional like this.

Isana let out a wordless frustrated sound and hit me with a particularly hard whack.

"Besides," I added, seeking to placate her wrath. "You really helped me out. When I was in there, I couldn't tell up from down, it was like I was floating in darkness, but the spell on this damned collar is connected to you and it showed me the way out. Then after I'd beat the damn thing it was your binding spell that kept it down for good. So, you really carried the day."

She blinked and leaned back, surprised. Her face melted into a smile that reminded me of Rukia. She looked really pretty when she smiled, no wonder even the ice king had thawed out for this woman. The only real effect she had on me was to make me wish I were back home at Rukia's side again. I wondered if I should find some more presents for my girl, to bribe my way back into her good graces. By all accounts she was pretty steamed at me, getting bribes would probably save me a few arguments, or at least lessen the length of the ones that were going to happen anyway.

:_I wonder what I should find for her_,: I mused to myself.

I already had one present for her, but that one was special; I didn't want to give it to her until she'd cooled off (mostly because I didn't want her flinging it at my head).

:_Maybe some flowers_...: But flowers might wither before I could give them to her.

I wasn't sure what else, but considering how weird the Realms we'd visited up until now had been, I was bound to come across _something _unusual to give to her. I'd have to start paying closer attention. My thoughts were interrupted by the feeling of someone pressing a cool hand against my forehead.

"Seems normal," Isana remarked.

Was it just me or was she abnormally close to me?

"Huh?" I asked her.

"Your temperature," she explained. "You had a bit of a fever earlier on while you were recovering. And just now you look kind of spaced out so I was a little worried that you weren't quite over it."

Fever? Really? The only time anyone I'd ever known had gotten a fever was when Haru had gotten sick. That hadn't ended well. How close had I come to death? Was this _normal _for Mortals? I was still alive so they must have given me something.

"I feel a lot better," I replied, trying to reassure her.

"I would hope so, it took me and Carbuncle over an hour, working our Healing abilities to the max, to get you all healed up. I have to say, when you throw yourself into a fight, you don't hold back do you?"

"Of course not!" I said indignantly. "What would the point in that be?"

Isana looked over at me with an expression I couldn't read very well, it was the same sort of expression Rukia wore from time to time; like there was a mystery in the depths of her eyes that a poor clueless man like me would never know or understand.

"If you could keep in mind that you're the only protector I have out here in these worlds and be a little more cautious, I would appreciate that."

I felt a bit chastened so I replied

"Well if you could keep in mind that you're the only Healer I have out in these worlds and be a little more cautious, I would appreciate that."

Isana smiled a little at me and backed out of the tent saying

"I'll keep that in mind, Renji."

My nose caught the scent of the sole thing that had the power to pull me out of bed when i was feeling so drained and exhausted. Truth was, I still felt pretty weak, but I was more eager to be up out of bed and working the soreness out of my limbs.

"How long was I down for?" I asked, pulling myself up onto my knees and, hunched over, making for the door.

"This is the second day after your fight," Isana said.

I stared at her in shock for a long minute. No wonder I had to go to the bathroom so bad. How bad had my injuries been? It couldn't have taken me that long to recover. I hadn't been hurt _that _bad, had I?

"Welcome back lieutenant," Yoruichi called from her perch near the fire as I pushed myself out of the tent and into the sunlight.

"Should be he up and moving about?" Isana fretted.

Of course I should! My stomach felt emptier than a Hollow, and if I didn't get something in it soon it was going to devour itself.

"Don't worry about it," Yoruichi said casually. "His type never stays down for long."

That sounded like an insult.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I demanded, as I pulled myself all the way out of the tent and up to my feet.

"Just that you're so dense that even sickness doesn't stick inside your head, never mind anything else," Yoruichi teased with a sharp smile.

"Ha ha," I grunted dryly.

I made my way over to the fireside where the smell of cooking rice added an underlying sweetness to the scent of woodsmoke. I pulled the pot suspended from the tripod closer and investigated the contents. Food! I eagerly found a bowl and scooped some out.

"But seriously Renji," Yoruichi said, her tone turned from teasing to serious.

I listened with half an ear as I tucked in. It was hard to slow myself down to a civilized pace and _not _try to swallow it whole.

"I think you should tell me what's going on, starting with why your Zanpaktou is so different. I've seen you in battle before, even your bankai, but the sword that shikaied out last night for the opening rounds was definitely not Zabimaru. What gives?"

I'd answer her questions as soon as I was done eating.

"I'm waiting..." she prompted as I continued to scarf.

I held up a finger and refilled my bowl to the brim again.

"What do you mean his sword is different?" Isana asked curiously. "And what was that... thing? The thing that killed the Shadow-critter last night, it looked like a giant skeleton."

I scowled up at her in insult. How dare she call my precious Zabimaru a _thing_?

"Excuse you!" I snapped. "That's my buddy yer talkin' smack about!"

"You've never seen his bankai before?" Yoruichi asked curiously. "I would have thought for certain that he would have whipped it out to take down some of those Guardian Spirits you have bound to you, a few of them are very powerful."

"Ah, no, that was a first for me. What's a bankai?"

Yoruichi quickly explained the different stages of zanpaktou's and the significance (and extreme rarity) of the Bankai form to Isana while I finished off a third bowl of rice.

"...And up until that last battle, Renji's sword Zabimaru had the shikai form of a saw-toothed blade that extends out and acts like a whip," Yoruichi finished.

"Really?" Isana said, sounding uncertain. "The only sword I've ever seen him use is the one that looks like this..."

Isana sketched the general shape of an hourglass with a diamond-headed tip in the air with her fingers.

"And it's yay tall..."

She gestured and approximate height.

"And it glows when he fights and shoots out lightning blasts when he yells commands," she finished.

"Yes, and isn't that _fascinating_?" Yoruichi said, pinning me sharply with her gaze.

I looked back at her, continuing to shovel rice into my mouth.

"Well?" she demanded. "I'm waiting."

I rolled my eyes a little and held the quiescent blade horizontal before me and swallowed my mouthful of food.

"Roar! Zabimaru!" I commanded, releasing Snaketail's form.

"Yes, see, _that's_ Renji's sword," Yoruichi said.

Isana looked over at it for a long moment, shook her head and said.

"Nope, never seen it."

I pushed it to full extension and whipped it into a spiraling knot around me and then pulled it back into blade rest, showing off a little. I let the shikai melt back into a regular blade, though Snakey grumbled about it. He was missing the battlefield already.

"I'd prefer you kept this under wraps, if you would," I said seriously to Yoruichi. "I have just started to learn it, and more importantly I'd like to keep an ace in the hole for when I _really_ need it. You can't keep a secret if too many people know about it."

"I'm the soul of discretion," Yoruichi assured me.

I tried to keep my dubiousness off my face.

I shrugged and summoned

"Howl! Zabimaru!"

The blade was nearly as long as I was tall and wide enough to use as a shield. The elegant curves of Zabimaru's howl form with its matte etchings near the hilt and the pointed diamond-shaped tip sprang into being.

Yoruichi looked surprised. Her eyes widened and she stared in disbelief and everything. I preened a little inwardly. Yep, I'd said it before but now there was no denying it... Zabimaru was the coolest Zanpaktou _ever_!

"How... How is this even possible?" Yoruichi asked.

"You've seen Zabimaru manifest back when I was training with the brat to achieve bankai," I replied. "He's a chimera, a nue with a baboon front and a snaketail. They're separate aspects of one being, well his sword has two separate forms as well."

I couldn't keep the smugness from my voice.

"If you had all this power in reserve, I don't see why you didn't use it to rescue Rukia that time, or even in a fight against the arrancars or the espada or against captain Aizen or Tousen," Yoruichi said. "It's not like you to hold back."

"I couldn't use it then. This is all very recent," I shrugged a bit still debating with myself over how much I was going to tell her.

Despite the fact that we'd fought back to back in battle together, I didn't know if I could trust her to keep a bridle on her tongue. I sorta wanted to keep the goings on between Zabimaru and me sort of between us.

"It alright," Yoruichi said. "You can trust me. I won't tell anyone, not even Rukia, if you don't want anyone else to know."

:_Whacha think Zabs_?: I consulted the blade.

::**_Ya might as well, she don't got nobody to report to, an' she's the sort to enjoy having a secret ta keep_**,:: Snaketail replied.

::**_In addition_**,:: Baboon King added. ::**_She is a master of kido, she would be an excellent candidate for a supplementary instructor_**.::

::**_Yeah, she's probably forgotten more about it than you've ever learned_**.::

:_Thanks_,: I replied dryly.

I looked up at Yoruichi and shrugged

"Well they're all for it so I guess I might as well tell ya."

I sat out on the ground and started my stretching and limbering exercises, being careful to stretch and warm each muscle group carefully while I went on to talk to Yoruichi, no point in not killing two birds with one stone.

"All this is recent, just in the last few weeks really. Once things settled down from the Aizen War an' we all got back inta business as usual, I thought I'd polish off a skill that would make me a better fighter. Zabimaru urged me ta work on getting rid of those binding marks he put on me-"

I related the story of how he had asked me to clear out all the 'junk" from my chakra (though I certainly didn't tell her what my issues had been, that was personal). I had started it back when I'd still been in Soul Society, but when I got turned mortal and dumped in the Mortal Realm I finished unlocking my chakra and unsealing all of my reiatsu. Babs and I were learning how to use all that untapped potential of mine together.

"... Though to be honest," I finished. "I'm still not real comfortable with all this reiatsu I've got. It tends to roil and flare up inside of me unpredictably, so I mostly just keep it sealed away as usual. I haven't even been able to fight with all of my chakra unbound yet."

"What level were you fighting at when you fought with me against the Shadow?" Yoruichi questioned.

"I originally had three chakra opened, which was the most I'd managed until then. But at the end I had to open up another chakra because of what happened inside the Shadow."

I quickly related what had taken place after I'd leaped into the puddle of Shadow, about how the world around me had started to absorb me and the gem that floated in the dark. Once I'd finished, Yoruichi shook her head, rose to her feet, and bopped me on the head with her fist.

"Ow," I muttered, rubbing the spot.

Isana hit like a girl, but Yoruichi didn't.

"You really need to have someone knock some sense into you," she replied. "Idiot."

"Yeah yeah..." I muttered, knowing full well that in this case her claim had some weight to it.

The stunt I'd pulled to defeat the Shadow had been stupid enough to deserve its own monument.

"But gettin' down ta business," I said, still continuing to stretch and limber my stiff and sore body. "Whatcha make o' that bead and the shadowbeast? I think I recognize it."

"Yes," Yoruichi said, delicately batting a paw at my chest where the necklace I'd gotten when I defeated the Katschei pulsed steadily with the essence of my power.

"I believe you are right," she said. "It's one of _these_. It's a heartsblood diamond."

"Looks like the Shadows are using them to drain all the power that still exists in some of the abandoned Realms in the Dangai and are siphoning them off to augment their own," she continued stretching out lazily. "I do not believe that this has been the case before. Otherwise, the Shadows would not have faded into specters of their former power, they would simply have picked off the weaker ones of their kind, invaded their realms, drained them, and moved onto the next like locusts."

I nodded agreement with that, it made perfect sense to me.

"Something changed them..."

My mind again flashed back to that library I had stumbled across in the Katschei's realm. Would an immortal mortal magician spend time studying the Soul Reapers to the point he would bother learning about Hollowfication? Would he even know what it was? Texts about that experimental stuff hadn't even been in the Soul Reaper library and I had thought that anything of importance could be found there. Heck, I hadn't known about it and I was a lieutenant...

"You look like you're thinking of something," Yoruichi said.

I held up a finger for silence so I could continue to trace back that particular scent trail and see what was raising the stink.

I had nothing concrete linking Aizen to the Shadows besides a gut feeling. I had doubted that Katschei, isolationist packrat that he was, would be much interested in the goings on of the world(s) beyond his study, but what if I was wrong.

:_It all seems to come back to those heartsblood diamonds_...: I thought.

Katschei was a notorious collector or rare things, it only made sense that he would want to get hold of something that was as rare as those heartsblood diamonds that Genbu told me about. But wait...

:_Waitaminute_...: I thought to myself, realization dawning as I looked down at my chest.

Katschei was a miser. Would a miser ever give away a piece if its horde? I rather thought that he would not. So then how had the Shadows come by those diamonds? Furthermore... The Heartsblood diamond was the keystone, the lynch-pin, that held all of the spells that Katschei used to keep his Realm from unraveling. It had been invested with the core of his power before I'd come along and taken it over when I killed him. It had been this heartsblood diamond that had enabled him to truly become Katschei the Deathless. The Katschei was a packrat, and packrats did not share thier hordes with anyone or anything, unless they got something they perceived as being more valuable in return. More importantly than that, how had the Shadows gotten hold of the Heartsblood diamonds, not to mention the spells, that enabled them to unravel realms.

:_Those who know how to put one together would know how to take one apart_!:

"What?" Yoruichi demanded, clearly seeing that I had thought of something by the look on my very much not-a-pokerface.

"That's the link between the Shadows and the diamonds!" I exclaimed. "It's the Katschei. He's the only one that we know of that would have access to heartsblood diamonds because he stole them from Genbu of the Earth Court. He also knows how to create a Realm using spells with a heartsblood diamond as its nexus, so he'd know how to reverse the process. It's a tenuous link but I'd bet if someone were to look around the Katschei's personal quarters and library they'd find his own research into it. I dunno how it works, I'm not a researcher, we'd have to get someone who does that kind of thing to investigate."

I was muttering to myself as my thoughts raced furiously. I had a link, however tenuous and unsubstantiated, that could connect the Shadows and their recent increases in power to research done by the Katschei.

"Katschei's a miser though," I continued mumbling to myself. "Those types don't share anything, especially knowledge, freely. He'd have to have a reason for wanting the Shadows to know how it was done, after all, common sense says that if he were the traveling sort he could go off and harvest power the same way himself if he wanted, and misers don't set up a business for creating rivals to their own power. So then _why_...?"

Yoruichi and Isana both exchanged a look and waited.

I tried to come up with a reason why the Katschei might be interested in helping out the Shadows but couldn't come up with a solid connection. The problem was that this was all mostly useless conjecture. I closed my eyes and cleared my thoughts. Go over what I knew to be true.

One, The Shadows were using Heartsblood Diamond (or something very like it) to harvest power from the other Realms. Two, the shadows were able to create shadow-puppet-things to fight and protect them, they had not, to my knowledge been able to do so before. I wasn't absolutely certain about that second, my encounters with the Shadows had been brief and unfortunate; I spent most of my time on their trail but very little time actually fighting one. Elusive bastards. This wasn't helping. What else?

:_The fact that they suddenly choose now, after centuries of obscurity, to interfere with Soul Reaper business could be significant_,: I thought.

I didn't know how or why, but it seemed a little too great a coincidence to be accident.

I had pieces, but they were not making any sense. I couldn't connect Aizen to any of this logically, and there were things that I was missing. He _had _to be involved somehow, I could just _feel _it. I hoped I wasn't getting paranoid. He was involved with the Shadows...

_:Maybe I'm approaching it from the wrong angle_,: I thought.

I was trying to figure out how the Shadows had gotten the Heartsblood diamonds in the first place but maybe that part wasn't important. They had 'em and that was that. I had to figure out how or even _if _Aizen was connected to them. My gut was telling me that this flare up of Shadow activity where there had been none before, and this close to the recent Aizen Rebellion was not a coincidence. I just didn't see the connection.

:_If there is one_,: I amended in my thoughts.

So, suppose there was a connection. The only side of the equation I had any experience with at all was Aizen, so I should start from there. His methods, his motivations.

:_Aizen wants to sit on the throne of the world, so far as anyone can tell_,: I thought.

That was his overall goal as far as we knew. He wanted to wield ultimate power. I paused at that thought and understood it.

"That's not so different from how it's done on the streets," I thought out loud. "When a thug wants to rise up on his own and carve out a piece of turf for himself, the first thing he does after he builds a reputation for himself is ta weaken his rivals. Once he's got a sizable chunk of turf and some people to follow him, he then starts going after the bigger fish, some he removes outright and takes over their gang, some he makes deals with if he thinks they're useful."

That was my experience anyway, I wasn't sure if it was done differently by people with education an' shit, but that was the world _I _knew.

"Aizen already has control of Hueco Mundo," Yoruichi pointed out, interrupting my chain of thought.

"Baby step," I rebutted. "He get's his own people under him, carves out a tiny niche then works from there."

"Shadows are not like Hollows, they don't all congregate in one place and they don't work together. Each of them is its own sovereign entity," Isana said unexpectedly. "Or at least that's what Shivna-vatu says. I think she would know, considering that she's a Guardian Spirit."

"So somethin' changed recently to cause 'em all ta start workin' t'gether," I said.

"Hm," Yoruichi said, joining in on the speculation-fest. "Suppose you were slowly fading from your former glory and someone came to you and offered you a way to get it all back, with potentially more to be gained and all you had to do was help him win a war before you went about your own business, wouldn't that sound tempting to you?"

"It would," I agreed. "So supposing that Aizen and the Katschei either know of each other or are actually working together, though for what purpose i can't imagine. The Katscei would have been able to provide the knowledge of how to take apart a Realm and harvest its energy, and the heartsblood diamond that would allow him to do so. But what would Aizen bring to the table? My gut says Katschei wouldn't have thought of seeking out the help of the Shadows without someone's pullin' on his strings, and we all know Aizen's a master string-puller."

"Plus Aizen has the motive of wanting a back-up Army when he's through using the Hollows." Yoruichi added.

I sighed and said

"This ain't doin' us any good, it's still all speculation an' no real proof. My Captain won't authorize an investigation based soley on a theory. Especially not now during war time."

"There's still the mystery of my son and those other children being kidnapped as well," Isana added. "What do the Shadows gain from that? What does your Aizen gain?"

"All good questions," Yoruichi said. "So my suggestion is that we set about getting some answers."

* * *

**Gaah, late update! It been a hectic week though, I've had two papers due so i haven't had the time to edit and post like I wanted to. I hope you all didn't miss me too much... I know it's been sort of a slow week for Renru fiction, at least on FFN. In the next week or so I want to start posting chapters on my Byasana (my other favorite pairing that runs a very very close second to Renji and Rukia) fic, tentatively being called Welcome home (I might change it to Tadaimasen, which a believe means the same thing... what do you all think?) Anyway, i hope you enjoyed this chapter, it was necessary to get some of the speculation out of the way before the next action so we're all more or less on the same page. Until next time, read and reveiw! **


	56. Testing Out Training

"By the way, I got into contact with Kuchiki while you were unconscious and passed along your battle report," Yoruichi informed me. "He also has the sealed Shadow mitama for safe keeping to use as proof in the next Captain's meeting. He sent along further orders."

Yoruichi handed over a scroll tube that the missives from Squad Six were sent in. I opened one end of it and slid out the scroll on its fine white paper with the seal of the Sixt Squadron on the outside. It was an official missive then, orders from a Captain to his Lieutenant. I hadn't lost my job!

_**To Lieutenant Renji Abarai of Sixth Squadron**_

_**Lieutenant, your success in providing the proof of your claims of a Shadow threat is noted, however, your courier informs me that you seem to have exhausted yourself in the process. Most specifically that your method in capturing said proof was dubious at best and suicidal at worst, I expect greater improvement in your ability at tactics and strategy. It would be troublesome at this point to have to start over with a new Lieutenant.**_

Was it just me or did that almost sound like he was concerned for me and telling me to be more careful? nah. No way.

_**Yoruichi Shihouin believes that extracting you from the trail of your investigation would be unwise at this point as your continued search will, she believes, lead you back to the main nest of the threat. It would be remiss of me to waste this opportunity for reconnaissance and the gathering of valuable information about this heretofore unknown threat. You are hereby ordered to continue in your previously self-imposed mission to track the Shadow you seek back to its lair. Once there you are to gather as much in the way of useful reconnaissance as you are able to, however it is more important that you remain undetected. If the enemy becomes aware of our awareness of him (or them) then they will take greater pains to shield their activities and it would be inconvenient to tip our hand at this point. You are also to extract the mortal boy and employ strategies of misdirection to disguise the agent of his disappearance. Your precise methods of extraction and misdirection I leave to your discretion, with the caution to keep your methods more subtle than you have been accustomed to doing in recent days.**_

"So. No storming the castle then," I said dryly.

_**Because of the unusual nature of your impromptu strike-force it is being debated among the upper echelons whether a team should be sent to support you. You have a marked number of volunteers Lieutenant.**_

It was nice to loved.

**_There has been, as yet, no official authorization for aid in the feild to be sent, the various captains and their subordinates are all debating whether or not to pull out of Hueco Mundo on the off-chance that your conjecture about it being one enormous death-trap could bear some weight. There has been some unfortunate speculation as to the nature and intensity of oyur loyalties to the Seireitei Lieutenant, some have cited that, along with Kira Izuru of Third Squad and Momo Hinamori of Fifth Squad, you yourself once owed a great deal of personal loyalty to the former Captain Souske Aizen, some have said that your "disappearance" and the wild nature of the tales of a nebulous enemy are nothing more than a smokescreen or a way to stir up greater trouble while Aizen sets up some other plot._**

"Whaaat?" I yelped in disbelief. They thought I was a traitor?

_**Those who do not know you or are easily swayed by rumor and speculation have been the ones mostly responsible for the rumors circulating about you, but you may be pleased to note that you have a core group of loyal friends and allies that strongly disagree with such wild and nonsensesical speculations as you actually being able to fool your Captain, Byakuya Kuchiki, right under his very nose. Clearly nonsense.**_

Part of me kinda wondered if he'd been born with that confidence of his or if it had just been grafted into him by his rank. Then again, I honestly couldn't really argue that it was entirely unjustified either. The man was sharp. I didn't think for a moment he'd ever not noticed that I saw him more or less as a rival, and part of me strongly suspected that he'd made me his lieutenant just because he was bored and needed someone to toy with to keep himself amused.

_**The Captain of Second Squadron has tried interrogating Gin Ichimaru as to the veracity of the supposed Hueco Mundo opperation but thus far there has been nothing of use. I believe he is toying with her. She is intelligent and dangerous, but essentially straightforward; personally, I would have sent in Shunsui Kyouraku to extract the information.**_

If anyone could twist Ichimaru around it would be idiot-crafty Captain of Eighth.

_**You noted in your letter that you had thought Ichimaru's capture by Rangiku Matsumoto had been perhaps a little too easy and you worried that he might be putting himself in a position that would favor his taking command of enemy forces once they'd breached the perimeter... The head captain and I have run several simulations with your hypothesis in mind, taking into account this new enemy of yours and have found that your conjecture holds up to scrutiny, especially now that you have proven that this threat does in fact exist. Many of the scenarios we played out based around some of your assertions ranged from the mildly upsetting to the disturbing. The head captain has urged me to recall you from the feild so that you can give a personal account of the Shadows and how to fight them, but I believe that the Seireitei would be better served by keeping you in your present position, doing reconnaissance on the enemy. Rukia does not agree with this assessment by the way, she is most upset. Her lack of faith in your abilites must be most upsetting to you Lieutenant.**_

And there is was, Kuchiki never could seem to resist inserting the dagger right between my ribs. Good job sir. Prat.

_**As it stood I requested that Yoruichi Shihouin, though she is no longer a member of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads, give us her assessment of the enemy, since you were at that point unconscious and unable to do so. She did not bother to reiterate what was already in your previous reports, but she was able to give us an excellent accounting of your first engagement with the enemy. It seems most troublesome that they would be able to generate such powerful magical-constructs for fighting with, one wonders just what exactly else they are capable of. She also stated that she had just barely made the connection between the pool of Shadow, the gem, the diagram, the realm and the Shadowbeast before you had gotten the brilliant idea to plunge your fool self in headfirst into a deathtrap for all you knew. As your Captain, I would request that you at least attempt to refrain from any more such manuvers stemming from such a massive amount of lack of forethought, planning, intelligence and basic common sense.**_

Ouch. No don't spare my feelings or anything, tell me what you really think.

_**Your theory about the Quincy being the only ones with a weapon to defeat the Shadows I believe bears further investigation. Unfortunately as far as trapped Shadows go, we only have the one that was bound up in the sphere sent back with Yoruichi Shihouin. Tertiary to the previous mission directives I have given you in this missive, it would be well if, should you get the opportunity to quietly remove another Shadow or two without being noticed, you might do so. Captain Kurotsuchi of Twelfth is, almost literally, salivating over the sole Shadow we have in possession, despite all of the warnings from Miss Shihouin to the effect that it is a dangerous and formidable opponent and that they have no way of binding it. The head captain desires that you should bring the binding spell back to be observed and learned by the Seireitei.**_

Small problem there, doc, that spell can only be used by a person who has the permission of all four Elemental Courts.

_**Permission from the Elemental Courts could be problematic however and I wish to avoid the matter for the time being, so for now my orders stand. You are to remain in the field.**_

Huh, interesting. Must be some kind of political machinatin' goin' on. It was kinda odd for me to feel proud that my boss was so good with the political stuff, seein' as politicians were rarely trustworthy, but there it was. he was a smart guy, I was sure he had his reasons. I couldn't help smiling to myself at the fact that he'd just adroitly given me the go-ahead to start picking off any of the smaller, weaker Shadows I could come across as long as I didn't get caught at it. heh heh heh.

_**You shall send an addendum to your report with your own analysis of the enemy, Shihouin had not decided to foolishly crawl inside the thing, unlike my wayward and most impulsive Lieutenant, so your insight on the inner workings of the Shadows would be of value. Once you have gathered information and samples to send back to the Seireitei, it would perhaps be wise that you should remain in the field to further investigate matters pertaining to this new enemy of yours as an immediate return to the Seireitei would be... inconvenient at this point. There is a great deal of unrest and speculation about you Lieutenant and there are some few who believe that you should be found, arrested, and kept under observation as a precautionary measure.**_

I stopped reading and stared, dumbfounded. I felt a jab of hurt lance through me at the implications. I tried hard, I really did, to be a good and loyal fighter but it seemed like it was all for nothing. I get captured, turned mortal, and dumped in the mortal Realm then Bound and sent of some Shadow-goose-chase across a hundred different Divine Realms and I still manage to send back progress reports... and it's not enough to prove my loyalty? How much more loyal did I have to be? I could understand everyone being wary and suspicious after having been betrayed by three of the Captains, one of whom had been considered to be one of our finest and most reliable, but geeze...

_**It is foolishness of course, but even some Captains are going along with it. The Captain of Second most notably, but she is being paid to suspect everyone and everything. The Captain of Twelfth also seems to find you suspect, but who can say what goes on in his mind. Most however sensibly dismiss charges of involvement with Aizen in any way but as an enemy. The Captains of First, Fourth and Seventh are reserving judgment but you are well thought of by the Third and Fifth Lieutenants, the Acting Captain of Ninth, by the Captain of Thirteenth and as a consequence by the Captain of Eighth, by the Captain of Tenth, and the entirety of Squad Eleven seems ready to go up in arms (more so than usual, anyway) over the matter. I'm certain the other two can be persuaded to come to their senses. Until that time, I believe it would be wise to keep their particular bone of contention out of sight, if not out of mind. And since I am your direct superior I have the authority to do so. You shall remain in the feild, investigating the Shadow threat, running reconnaissance on their stronghold if you can manage the feat. You may continue to send back reports as you have done, I have engaged Yoruichi Shihouin to act as a courier for the necessary future.**_

Was he actually trying to reassure me? It kinda sounded like it.

_**Good Hunting.**_

_**By my hand and Seal,**_

_**Byakuya Kuchiki, Captain of Sixth Squadron.**_

"Looks like I've got my marching orders," I said after finishing the missive.

"How are you feeling?" Isana asked.

"Well enough," I said loosening my shoulders."I've eaten enough to replace what I lost when I depleted my reiatsu fighting that Shadow, after that, I'm good to go."

"I've been practicing with Miss Shihouin while you were asleep," Isana informed me. "I feel like I've gotten stronger."

My eyebrows raised at this. To be honest I had mixed feelings; it was a relief to hear that she had been putting thought into her own defense and taking training so she could fight on her own, but I knew well enough from having trained enough of them that the rawest rookies also were the greatest danger in the battlefield because they were overconfident in thier skills and took risks to prove themselves that a seasoned veteran would have found another way around. Still, I also knew that if you told a woman like this one that she still had a long way to go before she was ready to see some major action she'd get huffy, and I'd be in for it.

"That's good," I said neutrally. "I'm glad you're taking steps to improve yourself, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be careful."

There, I mentally patted myself on the back, it had sounded pretty good.

"Wanna see what I can do?" she asked eagerly.

Why the hell not...

"Sure!" I said, trying to inject some enthusiasm into my tone.

She gave me this sharp suspicious look, clearly wondering if I was being patronizing, but shrugged and stood in the middle of the impromptu practice ring I had just deserted myself.

"I'm ready when you are, Miss Yoruichi," Isana announced.

Yoruichi Shihouin opened a large trunk that had sat at the edge of the campground and started pulling out what looked roughly like slightly small man-sized manikins. They were all neatly folded up, in fact it looked like all of thier parts had been made to fit well inside of themselves, they unfolded, extended, refitted and locked in place in a variety of different shapes and sizes. Some of them moved about on four legs, some on two, some had been created with reversed springy-haunches and long, extendable fore-limbs others had an array of bifolded spider-like legs and all of them featured some form of natural weapon on them; some shot water, others had the usual hollow-like scythe-limbs, some had clubbing forelimbs and so on. They were far more advanced-looking than the usual designs we saw in soul society, I had to figure that they were a new form of dummy-hollow invented by the evil genius.

Yoruichi centered a small flare of reiatsu and sent it out among the small force of dummies, which promptly came to life and started acting on thier own. Some of them rushed directly at isana while others scampered off to the nearby foliage to lie in wait and ambush.

Isana brought two fingers elegantly up before her and closed her eyes in concentration as the first three sets of targets came at her. She was surrounded by a faint, glowing aura of emerald green outlinging her features in a thin halo. She suddenly flattened her left hand then made a turning-over gesture. The ground under one of the puppets abruptly hardened to solis stone and then flipped over like a tile around a central pivot, burying and crushing the enemy. Isana gestured again, this time with a clapping motion and two slabs of stone clapped up from two sides of the second target, scuttling closer to her and by now the third was almost on her. She made a rolling motion with both of her hands and a perfect sphere of solid stone flowed up from the ground at her feet. At a pushing gesture from her, the sphere rolled out and crushed the little dummy but not before it got out a shot in her direction with a little claw launcher attached to its back. Isana ducked and puushed upwards and a large flat jut of earth formed a sheild in front of her that the projectile bounced off from.

There was a slight rustle in the foliage nearby and seven of the smaller critters launched themselves into the air banking off the nearby tree branches and centered in on Isana's position. Her aura switched from green to silver and she abruptly blurred into wind. My eyes widened and I almost had to pick my jaw up off the ground. She could flash-step!

:Or well, not quite flash-step. It's more like the Quincy equivalent of it, but still, managing it in three days... that's impressive. Especially since her spiritual power is mediocre.:

The mechanics of flash step were more than a little tricky, because it was not at all just about going fast. Any idiot could boost their speed using reiatsu, part of the ability to make flash-step work was to harness the spiritrons in the air surrounding you and form a shield that both protects you from the ripping pull of the wind (which at that speed would be enough to dislocate a limb or break a bone of you met with and obstructions) and enable you to see where the hell you are going as well as stave off the jarring effects of inertia (which also at that speed would be enough to brain a person good, if not crack bones and tear muscles). Mastery over that spiritron sheild was the key to being able to perform flash-step. It was a very tricky bit of business, involving being able to gather, center and manipulate large amounts of tiny reishin in a very small area very fluidly, it was usually a technique which required a few weeks of study and at least that long of applications straining for each step had to be mastered before the next one could be undertaken... and she had gotten it in a matter of days.

:I wonder if she had any help from those tame elementals of hers,: I wondered.

"Hah!" she shouted as she brought two fingers up from her chest and pointed.

Her aura went from silver to red mysteriously. A sphere of flame at her fingertips and shot out at the target when she gestured. The target exploded, leaveing six more that dodged out of the way and then circled around. She dodged out of the way of one areial attack in the normal way and gestured, a small lancing whip of flame shot out from her fingertips and wrapped itself around her target consuming it on the spot. Her aura changed back to silver again and Isana flash-stepped out of harms way then flash-stepped again to get behind two of her enemies and her aura changed to red again as she shot two large globes of flame at them from out of her hands. Half of her enemeies were gone in a matter of moments, and she hadn't summoned a single one of her actual beasties out on the feild yet. Isana's aura changed back to green again and she flattened one of the other two, switched to red and snet out a few more fire ball shots. The first few missed because her enemies were agile and wouldn't close in, one of them had a long-range claw-launcher built into it, which forced Isana to go on the defensive and use her earth powers to build a rock-sheild. She played a game of shoot and chase with the last of them, flashing quickly around the battlefeild, trying to get into a position of advantage, but her final little critter was a quick one, and she couldn't seem to arrive at a point where she could aim and hit it before it dodged out of the way.

"Lure it in!" I called advice to her. "Don't abandon the high ground, if it calls in allies you'll be in the kill-box."

There was another six or seven of the critters still hiding in different positions out on the feild that I could sense, she had only defeated most of her visible enemies. I was sure that Shihouin was planning something devious for her little pupil with the others. She and her life-mate, that evil shop-keeper, had that much in common it seemed. I often worried about Ururu and Jinta being left to be raised by the weirdo, at least Tessei seemed (sort of) normal. Sort of.

"I'm trying!" she snapped, sending another flare burst its way which the creature effectively dodged.

Isana ducked behind one of her earth sheilds as it sent a volley of claw-darts her way and reassesed her enemy for an instant. The next instant changed the battlefeild. Claws justted up from the surface of the ground beneath her and three long, spikey tunneling type enemies burst up from the ground like a zombie from a grave in a b-movie. In under a minute they anchored themselves in startegic positions around the little valley and started to pepper the area with bone-shot. Isana flashed from sheilded earth-work to sheilded earthwork. She was now on the defensive and she still hadn't finished off her wiry little fellow from before who was using the aid of his allies to good advantage, herding her from point to point. A moment later though, it did make a fatal mistake by getting in too close and Isana torched it with a long, flaring pillar of flame. She tried the same blow-torch method on the huge oponents stationed around the perimeter behind dug-in defenses but they were too well entrenched and the flames had little effect on them.

That was when the final wave of remaining construct-dummies phalanxed in. There were ten of them and they were roughly man-sized, slightly man-shaped, with reverse-haunched limbs, massively powerful forelimbs weilding long staff-like poles with one arm and tall rectangular sheilds with the other arm. They were in a diagonal decending line, with most of ther bodies covered and covering up thier comrades, making it difficult to get a hit in from front or side. Added to that the constant cover-fire from the perimeter...

"This sucks!" Isana exclaimed, nearly routed by then.

She was ducked behind a strategically placed earthwork dome watching the enemy advance on her step by earth-pounding step. She tried to unleash a fire-rain down on them from above but they entenched to the side and brought thier shilds up in a turtleshell to outwait it. She tried making spikes of earth up from underneath them to break up thier line but they moved too well as a unit, and thier haunched limbs launched them straight up in the air and back down again unharmed with little more than a slight deviation in thier pattern which was quickly enfolded again. The technique though was effective when she used it against the perimeter snipers. A few good hits with a solid earth spike and they were down and out. That left only the phalanx of construct warriors to deal with who had moved into position while she was dealing with the perimeter enemies.

Isana's position was now precarious. She was huddled in an earthworks dome carved from the side of a nearby hill, normally that might be a good place to be, especially since most of her elemental powers seemed to be distance weapons rather than close range, but right then it had simply made her like a target on a haystack. The ten phalanx fighters had arranged themselves in two diagonal lines in a downward facing V shape and were currently launching an interminable number of spear at her. Isana set out sheets of flame to disintegrate the volleys into ash as they launched and was holding them off, but only just barely. Everything she was trying wasn't working, earth spikes they avoided, flame rains they sheilded, and she couldn't risk exposing herself by flash step for there were two areial enemies waiting in the weings for her to do just that. She no doubt saw them which was why she held off on getting out of there.

"Try ice!" I called to her.

That was the one element she hadn't tried yet and Rukia's Sode No Shiraiyuki had proven that it was a formidable one. I felt the earth start to rumble and soften a little bit as watter from within the soil began to gather and collect on the surface. it flowed down into the little Valley. The soil itself went from being somewhat rocky and firm to loosening into small particulates and then sogging down into a mire. She was creating quicksand! Atta girl. The mire widened (and presumably deepened) and spread, encompasing the whole floor of the pocket valley. The phalanx warriors were soon up past thier waists, floundering and struggling in quicksand only made it worse. I knew from hueco-mundo that the only thing that could beat a maleable enemy like sand was the solidifying force of ice. It wasn't long in coming. Isana stood up, shouted a command and made a flat chopping motion with both of her hands, the mire sheeted over into ice and then solidified, leaving the phalanx warriors to struggle to get out of the solid block of ice they found themselves in.

Isana smiled and crushed them one by one with large pillars of ice which shattered like brittle glass, tearing thier bodies into peices. There was silence for a long minute as She checked around with her senses for more enemies and found none. Isana emerged from her cover and posed, preening for a long minute.

"What do you think of that?" she said proudly.

She looked so much like Rukia right then that I couldn't help smiling down at her and ruffling her hair like I used to.

"You'll do I guess," I replied warmly, impressed. "Good strategy."

Isana preened even more under the praise.

"You're impressed, admit it."

She was so like Rukia.

"Maybe a little," I relented, letting her have her moment.

"So I guess this means we're fighting together then?"

"We'll see," I temporized. "You'll still be following my instructions when it comes down to a fight. If I say get out of there, I expect you gone, especially now that you can flash-step."

"Fine fine, but you were impressed, right?"

It might be nice to turn the tables on her so I said

"Oh yes, very impressed. Well, it looks like you won't be needing me anymore, so I guess I'll just be on my way! later!"

"Hey!" Isana protested immediately. "You can't leave now!"

"Why not, you got this covered," I said gamely, teasing her.

"But there's a big difference between fighting dummies in practice and the real thing," she said quickly. "I couldn't beat a huge gate guardian like you have been doing. You still have to stay with me. And plus, how else am I going to track down my son? You can't go!"

She was starting to sound panicked so I ended the joke before things could get serious.

"Calm down, relax," I told her disarmingly. "I was only teasing you. I got orders from my captain ta help you out as long as it doesn't interfere with his orders for me. I'm not going to just up and abandon you out in the middle of the howling wilderness."

Though it would sort of serve her right if I did...

isana looked relieved.

"That's not very nice," she told me severely.

I chuckled and pinched her cheeks like a five year old.

"What can I say, I'm not a very nice guy."

"Now that I know is a lie," Isana said firmly. "Someone who wasn't a very nice guy would never have helped me out this far, collar or no collar. You interceeded when I needed help, even if you did beat those two men up because they irritated you and you needed their clothes and money. And you helped me find out what happened to my son, someone who didn't care about people wouldn't have done that either. Even after I put the collar on you, a lesser man would have, y'know, tried something while I was sleeping or out bathing, but you've never once been anything less than a perfect gentleman about it."

I snorted at that last. What, and have my captain one day find out that I'd put paws on his precious, beloved wife? Yeah right, I actually valued my life and body parts thank-you! If he ever got wind of improper behavior on my part with her, there wouldn't be enough of me left to identify... or to fill a thimble.

"You act all tough and badass, but deep down you're a big softie," she accused fondly.

"Tch!" I noised scornfully. "I am too a badass. How many enemies that got in our way have stood against me? None. That's premium badassery right there."

"Oh excuse me," Isana said wryly. "I didn't mean to impune your manhood there oh Undefeated One. Here he is, the sultan of destruction, the prince of property damage, the grand high poobah of-"

"That'll do thanks," I said flatly.

"Hey Renji," she said, her tone taking on a more serious note.

"Yeah, what?" I grumbled.

"Were you serious when you said that you wouldn't ever come and see me again in the Mortal Realm?"

"Yes," I replied shortly.

The sooner I could get this woman out of my hair the better. Even better than that would be getting me out of this damned gigai!

"So when this mission is over, it's really over between us?"

I didn't like the sound of that at all!

"What us?" I snapped. "There's no us, and there's certainly no between to speak of! I'm in love, and have been for longer than you've been alive, or heck, even your parents have been alive."

"That's a long time to love someone unrequitedly," isana said. "Doesn't it get lonely?"

"I have other things to occupy me, like training to get stronger."

And eventually defeating my captain. One day... one day he would be the one lying on the ground in defeat. I might loan him my bandana as a magnanimous gesture on my part.

"Stronger? You already seem plenty strong to me," Isana said, sounding puzzled.

"Trust me, there are fish in the sea that are still a lot bigger than I am," I told her.

"This is certainly true," Yoruichi said, flashing in from out of nowhere to join our conversation.

Isana sort of gave her this irritated, narrow-eyed female look, like she was interrupting something.

"But Renji has improved by a great deal recently," yoruichi said, ignoring the look. "Though his control of his reiatsu still needs work."

"Yeah yeah, I'm working on it already," I grumbled.

"While you were napping," Yoruichi said. "I took the liberty of scouting ahead. I've come across something I think is worth investigating a few worlds away from this one. It's somethin I think you'll want to report in about Renji."

"Well then, let's get going," I said.

Isana mounted up on her beast and for a change Yoruichi, opting to travel in human-form this time, mounted up behind her. I took the lead reigns and we headed towards the nearest gate. On the road again.

* * *

**My deepest and most abject and sincere apologies for making all you poor souls following this fic out there wait for an entire month before posting this chapter! The sad thing is, I really don't have a good excuse for why this wasn't posted. My computer didn't crash and I could get on the internet just fine when I had the time. The main problem is that I decided that there was a scene in this section that had to be written in (because it wouldn't fit well anywhere else) so I divided up the chapter into two parts (the second half of which is actually going to be deleted because it isn't relevant anymore) and when I went to write the scene it just wouldn't come. So I tried again, and then again and it wasn't working. I thought well maybe if I just give it time. So I let my muse carry me off onto other projects (all of them involving either Renji or Byasana fics) and one week dragged into two slid into three. I have work and school as well to deal with and just never found the right way to write it. Finally I said to myself, look just write something and post it so we can all move on to the next part, I'm sure they're all getting impatient. So I knuckled down this afternoon and made myself write it. I hope you all liked it at least a little bit. Please reveiw, I think I need the ego boost right about now. I'm at that three-fourths slump... T_T**


	57. Without Looking Down

"A lot of the Realms resemble different places on earth and look like old movie sets, but some of these places are just plain weird," Isana remarked to me. She was riding on Tanner capturing images of the Realm we were traveling through, I assume for lack of anything better to do. It was slower going than I would have liked in that world because the ground was unsteady. The sky that arched above us was violet-colored and the plants that grew along the pathway we were traveling along were some very strange colors, some of them even glowed. I thought about picking some up for Rukia, but figured that they would have withered by the time I could get them to her.

"Can't argue with that," I replied.

We'd been traveling for hours non-stop. Tanner was a fast not-horse and he was able to keep up with me at a sprint, so sprint it was. We'd passed through five different Realms before this one, two had been obviously abandoned and were falling to ruin, one world had been full of feral creatures that had been fn for me to practice with Zabimaru on, and the two remaining had been barren wastelands devoid of any sign of life.

"Can we rest please? I've been riding for hours and my legs and butt are killing me," Isana said. "I'm hungry too."

It was rare for her to request a break, normally when I offered she'd insist on pushing on ahead, anxious to get to her son. I wasn't going to turn down the opportunity for a breather and some food.

"Sure, a short rest," I agreed.

I was feeling the strain of travel myself. Truth to tell I wasn't as recovered from my meeting with the Shadow as I wanted the rest of the party to believe, what I was doing was supplementing my mortal body's weaknesses with fuel from my reiatsu. Still, the sprinting and the fighting and then more running were beginning to take their toll despite that.

"This looks like a good spot," Isana said a few minutes later, pointing to a cleared out space underneath a strange looking tree that resembled a bulbous-trunked, upside-down jelly-fish. The large round trunk was smooth and skin-like, translucently clear, and its willow-like branches were pale white and swayed in the breeze slightly. Was it just me, or did that just seem to tree move on its own?

"Isana, I don't think-" I started to say, some instinct warning me of danger, but she had already guided Tanner over to the spot she'd chosen and was dismounting.

"Ohh!" Isana groaned in pain as her legs straightened. "I'd thought I was in good shape until I came on this little hike with y-"

The rest of her sentence was lost as the stringy vines hanging from the tree wrapped around her and plucked her up off the ground. She screamed in fear and panic as a gaping maw, brimming with a glowing liquid goo, opened up in the trunk and the tentacles that had wrapped themselves around her started moving her towards the opening.

"Howl!" I commanded, sword Shikaing out even as I rushed in and started hacking away at the other tentacle that were simultaneously trying to fend me off and get me in their own grips. My sword sliced and flashed in a flurry as I pushed myself to record speed through one of the most difficult sword-dances in the Soul Reaper repertoire, it was a defensive dance, one meant to fend against multiple attackers. I pressed my way inward through the tangle of tentacle-like vines, trying to reach her before she got eaten.

"Renjiii!" she cried in a panic as she struggled.

The thing was moving her steadily towards its mouth, despite the fact that I had removed a third of its not inconsiderable amount of tentacles and was working my way steadily in.

:_I need a way to immobilize it_,: I thought frantically.

Howl-form Zabimaru was large and powerful, but it didn't have the same reach that roar-form did. Maybe I should switch? I continued hacking and slicing away thrying to work out whether or not a binding spell would work on something I wasn't sure was smart enough to be bound by a spirit spell. Then the memory of Rukia using Sode No Shiraiyuki to freeze her enemies in place flashed into my mind and I shouted

"Isana! Unleash a freezing spell on it!"

"I'm too scared!" she yelled. "My mind's blank!"

"Call your Guardian Spirit!" I snapped back, hacking off a mass of tentacles that had wrapped themselves around my ankles and were trying to pull my feet out from under me.

Nothing daunted, the predatory plant thing tried again, this time it managed to get a grip while I had turned to fight off some vines trying to pin my arms in place. I found myself abruptly upside down and being whipped around in the air. The world spun crazily, everything a blur of light and color.

"...hear my call and come to my aid, Shivna-vatu, I summon thee!" Isana commanded.

There was a rush of cold air as the strange blue-white woman with a rime of frost sparkling over her skin appeared. The humid and moist air around us seemed to mist over and tiny snowflakes appeared and swirled around. The tentacles were supple and rubber-like, and things that were flexible like that never reacted well to cold. Indeed, they were moving slowly as they lost their flexibility and became more brittle.

The Guardian Spirit gestured, holding both hands up in the air. ice and snow gathered in a nimbus of white light between her palms and she cast the essence of cold forward at her target. I was more than a little reminded of Sode No Shiraiyuki's Second Dance when everything in front of Shivna-Vatu iced over... including me.

:_The good news is, the tree can't move anymore. The bad news is, I'm fucking freezing_,: I thought to myself.

I didn't like the cold, it was one thing snakey and I shared. Snakes and cold don;t mix very well, come to think of it, Babas was a jungle dweller too, so he probably didn't care for being cold much either. I hacked at the tentacles holding my feet and the snapped off at the touch of my blade like icicles from the eaves of a roof. I looked over at the tentacle tree to find it completely frozen over. It wasn't moving, which would make my job a lot easier.

I pushed a flare of reiatsu down my blade and shouted

"Denkou Hou!"

It shattered like shelf full of mama's finest crystal. Isana went down with it, landing in a pile of snow and ice.

"You alright?" I asked her, waiting for her to get back on her feet while I checked Zabimaru for damage.

"Y-yes, I think so," she said a little shakily. "Considering that I almost just got eaten."

She banished her ice-woman and struggled to pull herself up out of the snow drift. Pulling herself to her feet she dusted herself off and walked back over to Tanner.

"Good work there," I said, nodding once at her to congratulate her on her form.

She was still as raw as any noob I'd ever trained, but she had potential. She looked shaken still.

"Let's just go," she said shortly.

A little on the touchy side, but I guessed that nearly being eaten could do that to a person. I helped her remount and looked down at the cat.

"Hey, how come you didn't help out?" I asked.

"You weren't in any real danger," Yoruichi replied, smoothing the fur of her shoulder with a few unconcerned licks. "You're too experienced a fighter to let a surprise attack stop you for long, and the woman was a ways away from the creatures mouth. Interesting way of defeating it though. She should practice with them more so she doesn't freeze up, no pun intended, in the middle of a battle."

I shrugged at that, we really didn't have the time for practice right then. That was a pity because I really wanted to try a spar with Yoruichi and see if Snakey's enhanced speed and perception would even the field between us... because if it did, then I stood a better chance when I eventually went for a rematch with the Kuchiki.

"There is one theory I wanted to test out when it comes to Hisana's skills, and since we're on a break and you already have Zabimaru out, now's as good a time as any," Yoruichi said.

I looked at her suspiciously. I didn't like that smile on her face. Cat's smiled like that when they had bird-feathers stuck between their whiskers and dear Tweety had gone mysteriously missing.

"What do I have to do with it?" I asked guardedly.

"You don't have to do a thing, just stand there with Zabimaru out," Yoruichi reassured me.

I was the exact opposite of reassured.

"I don't like it," I said, not bothering to hide the fact that my built in sense of male-danger-alarm was going crazy at seeing the two females huddled together, whispering and glancing over at me.

"Relax, this shouldn't hurt," Yoruichi said.

My sense of impending possible doom went up a notch at her use of the word shouldn't. I narrowed my eyes at the both of them but, not really seeing any other way around it than to play along with whatever they were planning, kept Zabimaru out in guard in front of me, and waited. Isana took a firm stance, looked straight at me and began to chant

"From the four Palaces of the Heavens. From the Four Pillars of the World..."

My brow furrowed in puzzlement. Why was she chanting the binding spell?

...Renji Abarai, I bind thee!" she said at the end of the chant.

I frowned at her, but the spell slid right over me. I felt a ripple over my senses and a strange tugging feeling, but it was like a brush of cobweb, it did not stay. There was a tug on my mortal shell, but I had the feeling that if I was ever able to separate my body and soul properly again that remaining tether would not hold on my true nature.

Yoruichi and Hisana both nodded in agreement with some unspoken opinion.

"Well that confirms that," Yoruichi said. "Even if he's some form of mortal, he's still a being of the fifth element, of spirit, so a binding spell that draws it power from the Elemental Courts and not the Spirit Court will not work on him."

Well, that was a relief. The little missy already had enough power over me without giving her any more of it.

"Just stay right there, we're going to test out one more theory," Yoruichi said.

By now I was more than just a little wary about what else they might be using me as a lab-rat for.

"What other theory?" I demanded.

"Just hold still," Yoruichi said.

I trusted that even less.

"I think we've tested out enough for one day," I said. "How about you put the spell away and we keep moving."

"This will only take a minute," Yoruichi pressed.

"Then why don't you have her test it on you?" I replied.

"It won't really work on me since I don't have mine with me," Yoruichi said mysteriously.

_Her what_? I wondered as Isana began to chant. I felt a growing sense of unease as the binding spell progressed. If they weren't going to try to bind _me_, since they already knew it wasn't going to work, what else would they be trying to bind? The answer hit me just as she reached the final verse. I gathered inert momentum to me in preparation to flash-step the hell out of there... but it was too late.

"Zabimaru, I bind thee!" she finished the spell.

What happened next is hard to describe. I'd been placed under a geas that enabled the mortal woman in command of the spell to tether me in like a tiger on a chain. The spell was impalpable except when it was activated and then it only seemed to affect my physical body and leave the ephemeral contents of my soul-stuff alone. This spell seemed to touch something in a deeper place that no-one had any right to go poking their magic into, a place where my soul was bound and resonant with a being that was not myself but nonetheless was integral part of what made me _me_. He was the voice who came from within, telling me all of the hard and uncomfortable truths about myself that I would probably not pick up on. He was mirror, echo and soul-bound companion all in one. Even in the days when I had not achieved shikai, I could always feel him there, on the edge of sleep, in the hollowed out places in my soul where sorrow and hunger might have resided. He was the one constant in my life, when all else changed or moved apart or fell away, Zabimaru was right there beside me, inside me. I could feel him there when I reached out my thoughts.

Except that now I couldn't. In the hollowed-out places, I found suddenly emptiness. Where there should have been whispers there was now silence. It didn't hurt in the physical sense but the silent dark was so thick and strange and terrible that it might as well have been. My soul and sense of self was plunged into a pit of cold blackness worse than anything I had ever felt before, even on the insides of the Shadows. It felt like all that defined myself was washed away and replaced with a painful, starving rage.

I didn't think, I reacted. The silver edge of my unshikaied blade moved without my thinking about it to remove the source of the threat. It was damn lucky for her that Yoruichi was faster or the world would have had one less human in it. The dark terror left no room for anything but rage and aggression at everything around me and I kept lashing at the nearest thing I could sense, determined to bring everything I possibly could to a state of painful emptiness just like I felt.

I was flipped onto my back and pinned into a lock that I couldn't escape from but at that point my panic had overwhelmed me. I couldn't think, couldn't breathe, couldn't feel anything but that terrible, dark, emptiness within me. I might have been screaming but I didn't recognize the sounds coming from within me.

Then suddenly my world was flooded again with light and that presence that completed me made me whole and kept me well and sane flooded back into my being, filling all of the empty places and banishing the dark. I lay there shaking in terror and reaction, my body covered in a sheen of sweat. Yoruichi very slowly, very cautiously started to let me loose from the full-body lock she had put me in, and her reiatsu started to pull back and away from mine. Sense started to return to me, and I couldn't say exactly what had happened but I knew it had been terrible. My memory of the event was clouded in a vague, watery haze.

"We know it works, but let's not do that again. Ever," Yoruichi said.

I reached up to wipe the sweat that had fallen into my eyes only to discover that two tear-trails bled down the sides of my cheeks.

"What did you do to me?" I demanded, in a voice that was all the more dangerous because it was so quiet.

The two women exchanged matching guilty glances. My suspicion hardened.

"What did you do to me?" I demanded again, my tone sharper this time as some of the visceral memory of what had happened just moments beforewhen I had mysteriously blacked out began to creep in around the edges.

:_I'll tell ya what they did_,: Snakey said into my mind, sounding seriously pissed off. :_They laid th' magic whammy on us is what they did_!:

:**Indeed**,: Baboon King said, his normally serious and dignified tone carrying an edge of anger to it. :**They used the spell of binding upon us. It is a spell that is effective against any member of the Elemental Courts, spirit beings who derive thier power from Nature rather than the Fifth Element. We are an Earth Spirit originally, and so the binding spell that will entrap a Shadow will work equally well upon a Zanpaktou spirit, which I assume was thier point in attempting the excersize**.:

:_Without our permission_,: Snakey added in. :_If she'd have just asked, we coulda told her it'd work_.:

I felt more than insulted, I was enraged and betrayed. I couldn't even find words to express my deep sense of outrage that someone I had cared for, guarded and protected would do such a thing to me without even asking me if it was alright. Sure, she had probably been egged on by the other female, but surely by now she should have had some inkling of what it was like for me to be a wielder of a Zanpaktou.

I climbed to my feet and locked eyes with the woman, pushing out my considerably angry reiatsu at her. My rage took the place of the air all around me, sucking it away and replacing it with a force of implacable sensation, like gravity had suddenly decided to go from normal to three or four G's without warning. The mortal went down, first to her knees and then prostrate. She gasped, desperately sucking in air like a landed fish. She struggled to move, but could not combat the strength of my spiritual power. It was a cheap trick and not one that I had ever really indulged in before because I considered it beneath me, but right then I was so angry that my usual fastidiousness was put on hold. For a moment, even Yoruichi was caught off guard, but really, a moment was all I was looking for.

"Listen up and listen good bitch," I growled, not caring that I was insulting her. "This is the last chance you get ta push th' mark. I don't care which one of you started it or why you both thought it'd be a good idea, but next time you wanna try sumthin' you fuckin' ask me first! I'll let most things slide, but if you _ever_, in _any way_, threaten my Zabimaru again, you'll learn what it means ta hold a tiger by th' tail, and heaven help you when I get loose."

I pulled in my reiatsu from where it surrounded me in a halo of force, point proven, and sought to reign in my temper at the same time. Isana gasped for breath and while she was recovering I picked her up by the scruff of her coat, deposited her none-too-gently across the saddle of her beast , took up the reigns, pivoted on my heel and stomped off, leaving the baggage and its carrier to follow in my wake.

"Renji, I-" she tried.

"Shut it," I said shortly.

We continued on in stony, uncomfortable silence for the rest of the Realm and the two that followed it. I could sense her guilt but I was too angry with her right then to reconcile. Moving along at a fast sprint helped me get much of my anger and aggression out of my system but I was still smoldering inside. I wasn't exactly angry at Isana per se, (not entirely anyway) I was angry that she would try something like that without asking me first. Granted, even though she had seen me fight the manifested form of Zabimaru in the Earth Court, Isana probably still thought of my Zanpaktou as being just a very large hunk of metal that I fought with. Human's relied entirely on their physical senses for data after all, and they didn't have that extra sense that Soul Reapers had to tell them things. It was entirely likely that when Yoruichi (and I just knew she had to be the mastermind behind it) had come up to her and said 'hey, why don't you try binding Renji's sword with your powers to see if it works?' Isana, not realizing that the sword was indeed a spirit and bound intimately with my own spirit, probably naively hadn't seen the harm in trying it.

Yoruichi might have even treated the whole thing like it was a prank the two of them would play on me and we'd all laugh it off in the end, but still... Isana had developed a bad habit of trying whatever she thought she might get away with. It was a very human habit, and one that I had seen on countless occasions in people of all sorts, even the good ones that I otherwise liked, but it still was not an admirable trait and it could get you into trouble. After all, had I ever tried to sneak around behind Kuchiki's back and steal Rukia away for myself? No, I had (mostly) forthrightly confronted him like a man and (mostly silently) made my intentions known to him. It disappointed me to see a person with whom I otherwise sort of liked and enjoyed spending time around constantly give in to this one weakness of character. I forgave her of course because I was beginning to see her, sort of, as a friend, but she was not learning to respect my boundaries. Maybe now she would. She was otherwise a nice woman; caring, kind and gentle with just enough strength and resolve to make her interesting. She could also be funny, in a human sort of way. Her observations sometimes made me laugh and I liked the way she didn't let what would for most people have been an overwhelming situation get her down, she just continued to try the best at what she could do and put her trust in her friends to help her through with the rest. I didn't see her the way a man would look at a woman, I still thought of her as my captains woman, and ya didn't poach on yer boss' girl, but as a person, I had grown fond of Isana.

Part of what bothered me about what had been done was the fact that it had made me lose control. I could have hurt her or possibly even Yoruichi. Something could have gone wrong, I might have lost my bond with Zabimaru permanently, in the process loosing myself and becoming something _other _than what I am. It angered me that they were so heedless of the dangers. Yoruichi knew me pretty well, but she knew me somewhat as an object of ridicule, so far beneath her in power and ability that I wasn't considered a threat. And most of the time she would be right, but I had changed and was still changing. The me she knew who bumbled around like an idiot, made stupid jokes, and fell for every single trick in the book wasn't who I was when Zabimaru and I were on the field. I knew she (for the most part) knew that but it seemed that it was easy to forget when the most exposure she had of me came from the time when I was goofing off at the Urahara Shop, letting those two kids climb all over me and use me for target practice.

On the third Realm we crossed Yoruichi stopped me and said

"Don't be so angry with her Renji. It was mostly my fault and if anyone should be a woman and apologize it should be me. I was the one who thought up the idea of testing out the idea of zanpaktou binding to see if it would work and I'm the one who urged her into trying it out."

"Yeah I figured it was you," I told her, an edge in my voice. "You were lookin' at a possible new weapon in yer arsenal, an' I get that. That's fine. What's _not _fine is you ropin' the both of us inta yer own plans an' not letting us have a say. I understand yer a clever kitty, ya like ta play with th' little mice of th' world, but we're not mice Yoruichi. Neither she nor I exist ta keep you amused. It don' excuse Isana not askin' me first about wantin' ta try somethin' out, but I'm not as mad at her fer being manipulated as I am at _you _fer doin' the manipulating. Yer powerful an' there's no denying that, but you gotta think about others first, missy. What if somethin' had gone wrong? What if, by some freak accident, you hadn't won against me and I'd hurt her? How do you think I'd feel about that? What if she hadn't been able to undo the binding spell, we've never worked it backwards you know, and Zabimaru had been trapped? How do you think that'd make me feel? Or Isana, how would she feel, havin' ta live with what she done? Develop a little empathy cat, or hit the road. We don' need a member of our team that's not going to pull for the group."

I don't know how she did it, but Yoruichi managed to pull of chastened and flabbergasted at the same time. It had probably been a very long time indeed since someone had had the brass balls to take her to task (and to be fair, it had probably been a good long time since it had been necessary, Yoruichi was good people for the most part, she just spent way too much time around the evil genius and it had skewed her perceptions a bit).

"Why must I be chastised by someone like him?" she demanded of the universe at large as if personally affronted by it.

"Because I'm the injured party and you earned it good," I replied smartly.

Too bad Kuchiki wasn't here, he'd be so much better and more articulate at this sort of thing than I was. If anyone could pull off a lecture that would leave you feeling like a lower life-form unworthy of the least consideration when you knew ya fucked up royally, it was Lord Byakuya Kuchiki Head of Clan Kuchiki. I was sure there were scads of points I was missing that he would have picked up on and been certain to elucidate in excruciating detail. Fortunately, by that point, having said my peace and counted to ten, I was ready to forgive and move on. I had a temper and I always had. It came with my passionate nature and it was something I'd always wrestled with, but one thing I could say about my temper... it might run hot and fast, but it cooled quickly and I was always eager to forgive quickly. I might have a temper, but I was basically an easy-going kinda guy and, with the sole exception of Kuchiki, I didn't really go in for holding grudges. Most of the reason that one had lasted so long was that it was mostly my own damn fault.

"And as fer you, Missy," I said, turning to face Isana, who looked down at my with a face sorrowful with guilt. "You need ta work on yer self-control. Yer a mom right? Would you let your kid act th' way you've been acting? Ya don't strike me as the type who would. Ya seem like a tough mom."

"I would have read him the riot act," she admitted sheepishly. "Especially if it was dangerous."

"You should practice a little more of what you preach," I said. "I'll accept apologies now."

I could tell by the momentary flicker across her face at the way I'd said it, grinning smugly at her, that she considered not giving me one just for that, but was clearly too eager to correct her mistakes to follow the contrary impulse.

"I'm very sorry for what I did," she said sincerely instead. "I didn't think it'd hurt you, and I didn't mean to make you mad or put anyone in danger. I was being stupid and not thinking ahead. Please forgive me."

"Water under the bridge," I said easily. "Just don't do it again."

Isana opened her mouth, looking like she was going to argue with me about my quick acceptance.

"That's it?" she asked a little incredulously. "You're so pissed off that you practically rain down fire from the heavens, swear and rant for a bit, go for a run, then I get off with a slap on the wrists and a don't do it again?"

"What, you want me to chain you to the wall or something?" I rebutted.

The two women exchanged a look and I rolled my eyes.

"Yer good people Isana," I said. "Sure, ya find new ways ta piss me off, but I don't know a single woman in the world that don't do that eventually if she spends enough time around a man."

Even Momo, whom I adored as a little sister, so sweet, so gentle and understanding, got under my skin sometimes. Sometimes she was just a little _too _sweet, a little _too _understanding and not willing enough to say when someone had pissed her off. Her unwillingness to take offense on her own behalf was a little irritating at times.

"I don't spend any time at all around men," Isana said in a wistful tone. "Well, my own age anyway. There are the old men at the nursing home I work, or rather probably _worked _past- tense by now, but they don't count. Maybe I'm just out of practice."

"Nah, yer doin' a fine job o' drivin' me up a wall," I assured her.

She mimed a swipe at me and clarified

"Dating. Between work for most of the day and taking care of my son the rest of the time, I don't get out much. I can't remember the last time I went out on a date that had the potential to go anywhere. Most guys my age are still looking for candidates for a potential booty call, and the few that have real potential I seem to miss out on. It figures that I finally find a good one and get him to pay attention to me and he's dead."

"Dems de breaks," I agreed with a shrug, deciding that I was going to ignore, completely the innuendo on that one.

"So you're really going to forgive me, just like that?" she asked, hopefully.

"No point in carrying a grudge," I replied. "I don't think that a person who understands and is truly sorry about what they did should have to apologize more than once."

Which was prbably the only thing that had saved my relationship with Rukia when we were growing up. She had always been a proud little thing, getting her to admit when she was wrong had been an uphill fight all the way most times, and we were both stubborn, but we also understood that about each other and that was why so much of what worked about us didn't need to be expressed in words, we understood.

"That's remarkably mature of you Abarai," Yoruichi said, sounding approving.

"O' course it's mature," I reproved her. "I'm plenty mature over here. I got maturity out the yin-yang. I'm a lieutenant you know. Lieutenant of Sixth Squad."

I puffed myself up a bit to show I was particularly proud of that fact and the two women exchanged a look that did not get lost in translation even on my side and we continued on our way.

* * *

**Only the opening scene was originally written into this thing. I had had a vague notion of what was going to happen... as in, I knew that Isana was going to demonstrate her ability to bind Zanpaktou (pay close attention to that one class, there will be a quiz over it later) but for the most part I did not know what was actually going to happen. I'm just as surprised as you are. Let's hear it for muses that keep me up until three in the morning. So I didn't know that binding Zabimaru was going to bring Renji's Hollow to the surface (though, to be honest, I had been toying with that idea for another fic I was thinking about writing sometime in the future) and I hadn't planned on that fight happening either. Actually, I had thought that Isana's and Renji's "relationship" troubles were done with, but I guess my muse decided they needed one last little hoorah. Being a lonely single mom can be tough so I wanted to put that in there, just to make sure everyone knows that she's ripe for the proper man to sweep her off her feet... **

**Like that paper I started, accidentally deleted, and then had to write from scratch from my notes and hardcopy (it ended up being an A+ by the way, and the prof even read some out loud in class as an example of the importance of drafts) the result may not have been quite what I'd expected going into it, but once I got started, the rest seemed to flow without much help from me. I hope it was worth the wait! Until next time, signing off!**


	58. Binder

We started off again and crossed gates into the next world which was another of those abandoned realms that were coming apart at the seams.

The what I could see of the Realm we crossed into from the Gate platform was thick forest with tall mountains crowning up in the distance. The trees were large and thick and old and the sky blurred into nothingness in small patches. Immediately after stepping out of the gate I picked up a familiar scent of magic.

"What is it?" Isana asked, noting my rapt attention.

"Shadow," I said shortly trying to get a direction. "I think it's no longer here, but I can smell its scent so strong that it must have passed this way recently. Within the last day or so. I think we should check it out, if we're lucky it might have left something useful behind."

Yoruichi gave me a long level look, aware of my new orders but said nothing. It wasn't like I didn't want to rescue the kid, but I'd get there eventually and this might bring a valuable insight into an enemy I might be having to fight against soon.

Isana was visibly torn between aquescence to my idea and the desire to keep going forward on the trail of the Shadow we were hunting. Having me out of action for two days had set us back but for whatever, she decided to humor me and nodded that we should go after the Shadow I scented nearby.

We approached cautiosly, suppressing our spiritual traces down to practically nothing as we crept along on the way to where I scented Shadow. I frowned after a long moment once we got close enough for me to practically taste the scent of inscence on my tongue. The scent of reiatsu was powerful... but not powerful enough. I didn't sense the presence of Shadow at all, but I could feel the emanations of the magic they used like heat from off a furnace.

Yoruichi and I exchanged a long speaking glance as we got within eyeshot of where we sensed the emanations coming from. In unison, we crept forward to investigate.

A large circle aproximately four feet in diameter with a complex spell diagram of circles and interconnected lines with complex an incomprehensible sigils written over them was glowing with a greyish-white light. Hovering in the air over the center of that spell diagram was another of those sparkling beads. This gem was smaller in size than the mitama we had collected previously, that one had been the size of a baby's fist and this one was about the size of an ordinary marble. There was no sign of a Shadow in sight. We could both sense the spell was in effect, doing whatever it was supposed to do, and I had a pretty good idea that it was supposed to be unraveling the realm and collecting the energy from it.

"don't get too close," Yoruichi warned an instant later as she drew nearer to it than I had dared to go. "I can feel it pulling on the energy of my reiatsu from here and if you get too near it with your lack of control it'll drain you dry before ou can say knife."

I nodded, acknowledging her advice and shied back a step or two, with kido-nonsense there was no point in taking chances.

"Miss Isana, see if you can't get some of ths recorded," I called over my shoulder. I heard isana fishing around in one of the saddlebags for the recording device. She'd mastered the trick of activating it.

"It's on," she called over a minute later. I pointed over to the spell circle and she obediently took some close-up footage of the circle.

"I'm lookin' inta things like ya asked," I said adding onto the report I'd made previously. "And I found this. It's one of those spell circles and it looks just like the last one that had a Shadow in it, but this one doesn't have a Shadow anywhere in sight. I think it's not even anywhere in this Realm. I can scent the trail and it passed by recently, but I can't sense its energy signature anywhere within range."

I looked a question over at Yoruichi and she shook her head in negation.

"neither can Miss Yoruichi here."

I pointed to the gem hovering over the center of the diagram, saying

"The gem is smaller than the one I sentcha, as you can see. I can't confirm it but it seems to be unraveling the realm and sucking in the energy to store inside this crystal. if ya get to close to the array here, it starts sucking away at your life-force like some kinda power devoring vaccuuum or black hole. It doesn't seem like it discriminates much, it just takes in any energy."

I frowned and ran a hand through my bound hair, mulling over the implications.

"Maybe this is statin' the obvious," I said after a long moment. "But it seems t' me that the person or persons responsible for settin' this spell array up are deliberately harvesting power from abandoned Realms across the Dangai. This is definately not the first one I've come across, you read in one of my earlier reports 'bout the weird spell circle I came across on the second say o' Realm-hopping. I didn't know what it was before, and I didn't know enough about the Divine Realms to understand that it was actualy an anomally 'stead o' sumthin' that was supposed t' be there."

"I would be willing to bet," yoruichi chimed in on my report. "That if we searched through the other Realms that are becoming unraveled that we would find another such array somewhere within them."

"which sorta seems ta pont out that someone who wants power an' a lot of it is finding a way to get it, by harvesting power from abandoned Realms. Don't know fer certain who it is or what they wanna do with it, but I think it's sumthin' worth mentioning if only sos we c'n keep an eye on the mess and see if sumthin nasty comes crawlin' out of it. Don't wanna get caught blindsided by some powerful new enemy when we got enough on our plates as it is. Abarai out."

"Should we just keep going or try to get the bead?" Yoruichi questioned as Isana packed away the recorder.

"watcha think Isana? Up fer a little practice on that bindin' spell o' yers?"

"That's what I'm here for I guess," she shrugged, dismounting from her construct-beast.

"From the Palaces of Heaven..." she began her chant.

I stood back and let her go at it. The spell really was effective, as she called upon each of the four elements, the diagram unwrote itself from the ground underneath the gemstone, hovering in little lines up in the air that promptly folded themselves into the heart of the weird little gem. I wondered if they would be able to figure out how the spell worked by findin a way to pull it out of the gem once they got to it. A sphere of smooth crystal enveloped the energy-sucking bead that glowed yellowish with latent energy. I picked it up when it dropped to the ground while Yoruichi caught Isana, who had swayed unsteadily on her feet after she'd cast the binding spell.

"You alright?" I asked, noting that she looked kinda pale underneath her ethinic bronze skin.

"I-I'm fine," she said a little shakilly. "It's just that... that spell takes it out of me, that's all. I'm not used to being able to do things like this and I don't really know how much I can do with it."

"If you would like," Yoruichi said, helping to steady her on her feet. "When we stop to rest for the night I can give you some training in the use of your spiritual powers. It is always best to know your limits before you must face them in a battle."

"Will it help me rescue my son?" Isana asked.

"I cannot hurt," Yoruichi replied with a note of ironic humor in her voice.

Isana nodded her assent and remounted.

* * *

**So short that I didn't really bother with editing it, so any spelling or grammatical errors I will blame on my busy schedule. It might be a few days on the next chapter, I have to actually find time to write it instead of posting from what's already written so plaese bear with me. As always I'd like to thank all of my wonderful reveiwers for sticking with this monster and letting me know what they thought of it. **


	59. Bunnygirls

"I know just the place to take you for training," Yoruichi said cheerfully as we walked up to the nearest gate. "These people you're going to meet may look a little... strange, but I promise you they;re the best ones for teaching you what you need to know."

"Why's that?" Isana asked next.

"They use a brand of magic that is so similar to yours that it might as well be the same thing. In fact, it might very well be the same thing. The Mi'kotei are a race of people that, once they get old enough, bond themselves to elemental spirits as part of ther religion. They believe that sharing thier spiritual essence with a elemental brings them closer to the Mana, that's this force of magic they believe interweves all things in all worlds. Their bond with the elementals also enables them to use elemental magic, but only of the kind of elementals they bond to. For example a person bonded to an earth elemental would be able to bend trees to their will or shape earth beneath them or manipulate the shape of metal, but they would not be able to fly or move water or create fire."

"I have an earth elemental!" Isana said excitedly. "And Renji won me a fire elemental and an ice elemental too. I also have one that enables me to heal that I took from the earth court."

"Sound's like you have a pretty mixed bag," Yoruichi said, sounding impressed. "You might have several teachers then. The Matriarch owes me a favor or two so don;t worry about how you're going to get teachers. But I should warn you, try not to act surprised by their appearance."

Yoruichi entered three completely new coordinates into empty node-slots on the Gate and activated the world gate. I trailed along after the not-horse magical construct beast with Yoruichi in the lead and Isana right behind her. We exited out into a forest... but what a forest!

"Wow!" I exclaimed in spite of myself as I looked up and up and up.

The trees, covered in moss and vines and flowers were as wide in circumference as some buildings I had seen and the tops of them were obscured by leaf cover so I couldn't tell how far up they went. On the leaf strewn forest floor it felt like there was nothing but interminable pillars stretching from horizon to horizon. Lone beans of golden sunlight slanted through the thick forest cover, while sparkling motes of gold, like fireflies, danced in and out of the beams of light. Here and there I could see the glint of something unknown sparkle up in the darkened heights of the canopy above us but couldn't begin to guess at what it was. The forest floor was covered in large ferns, in strange day-glow colors and what appeared to be giant flowers as big around as some small trees I had seen that glowed softly. There were huge toadstools too that sporadically puffed some kind fo glowing pollen up into the air. There were vines as well, covered also in flowers that have a lambent bioluminescence to it.

"Wow, so pretty!" Isana said excitedly, hopping off from Tanners back and rushing right over to the enormous tree-sized glowing flower as she called over her shoulder

"Renji! Get a picture of me next to this flower!"

Obligingly I held up the memory device and she nudged in closer to the glowing flower to pose.

"Ummm Isana..." Yoruichi said warningly as I focused in on her.

"Smile!" I called as I had heard them say in the mortal world.

It was just as I was snapping the picture that the folded up flower bud burst open and a nearby vine wrapped itself around her waist and hauled her into the center of the flower.

:_It figures_!: I grumbled to myself. :_Of course she wants her picture taken next to the carnivorous plant_!:

The glowing petals of the flower folded up over her, it would have been very pretty, like something out of a ballet... if it weren't trying to eat her. I sighed and pulled out Zabimaru. Time to go to work. I flashed in there, shikaing as I went and lopped off the offending tentacle vines so that all I had to deal with would be the heart of the flower. I wondered, as i got in close to her, exactly how it was I was supposed to get her out of there without actually stabbing her. She was struggling like a wild thing, to give her credit.

"So uh, how're we s'posed ta get her outta there?" I asked Yoruichi.

"It is a conundrum," she agreed with me.

"That thing isn't gonna poison her or nuthin' is it?"

"Not right away. It at first administers a general analgesic, sort of like Novocaine, which has the side effect of putting its prey to sleep. Then, once its prey is rendered unconscious and helpless, the plant generates an acidic solution which helps it to digest its prey."

"Sounds efficient. I think I'll let it put her to sleep first," I said grinning over at her. "Less likely I'm going to have to stop her later from making more work for me. She's a nice girl, but a bit of a lightning rod for all kinds of trouble! If she can pick it up, pull it down, bring it in or tumble into it she'll find a way to make my journey just that much more interesting."

Yoruichi looked over at me in amusement.

"Getting tired of babysitting the little mortal are we?"

"Never again will I make fun of Rukia when she complains about how much work it is!" I said fervently. "Mortals are more mischief than a sack full of ferrets!"

I was only joking of course, the next minute I was flashing in there again to try to figure out how to get her out of the plant.

"Maybe if I poke my sword up under it and try to dig it out by the root," I muttered to myself.

Luckily for me, Isana solved my problem for me. There was a fiery explosion and the plant flew apart from around her, little peices of petal coming down in a soft rain for a moment. She emerced from the charred remains of the plant, sticky with plant goop and held bridal-style in the arms of one of her Guardian's, the fire one. She looked bedraggled and somehow managed to convey a sense of terror and irritation at the same time.

"Renji! What took you so long? I was nearly eaten by that thing!"

I opened my mouth to tell her that I'd been working on trying to think of a way to get her out of there without blasting her to a greasy smear on the forest floor but she wasn't listening.

"If it hadn't been for efreet I would have been eaten! What is it with these places and everything trying to eat me? I HATE flowers!"

That last one came out in a hysterical half-sob. Uh-oh, she was working herself up into a state.

"Hey, yer a girl... _do _something!" I hissed over to Yoruichi, who only looked back at me with the same smile her shopkeeper friend would have been wearing in this situation and said

"Danger, Will Robinson! Danger! Danger!"

She even added and evil little chuckle at the end.

"You're no help," I muttered.

I thought desperately to find something to head off the coming storm with... I'd seen Rukia work herself up into a state once or twice before and the results were never pretty, especially for me. I saw something glinting on the forest floor, it looked pretty and shiny, maybe it would hold her attention. I scooped it up and looked at it quickly to make sure that it wasn't something that would hurt her, it was just a big rock-crystal the size of my fist. I shoved it into her hands and said

"Look missy! Lookit the pretty sparkly!" Isana, like most other females I knew of, could be placated with sparkly rocks.

She stared at it for a long moment, turning it this way and that, then looked up at me with an odd expression on her face.

"For _me_?" she asked.

"Sure, keep it," I said. "Just don't scream and cry at me."

She had a very pretty smile but...

"Let's get this show on the road, I wanna get to where we're going before dark, if it ever gets dark in this Realm."

It could be hit or miss on that one. Yoruichi gave me this lingering look that almost seemed like exasperation as Isana cheerfully mounted up on her noble steed, still playing with the sparkly rock I'd found for her-

:_Geeze, she's like a kid really_,: I thought.

But she wasn't even five decades old yet, you couldn't expect much out of someone that young.

"You might regret that," Yoruichi informed me.

She curled around my shoulders for a ride this time as I took the lead reigns and led the beast and its burden on our way.

"Hey if it keeps her quiet and not causing trouble, I'm all for it."

Yoruichi sighed as if I were missing the point and said nothing.

"Hey," I said after a while of following what looked to me to be nothing more than a game trail (and not an actual road) through the dense forest cover. "How much further?"

"That depends," Yoruichi said with maddening mysteriousness.

I knew better than to ask 'on what' that was what she wanted me to do and I wasn't interested in playing into her paws.

"If Yoruichi-sama says so," I said with overly-false politeness. "Then I'll have to have faith in that."

She sneezed wetly into the side of my neck.

"Aewww!" I groaned in protest. "That's gross. Go back with the mortal woman if yer gonna do that."

"Aw, but then I wouldn't get to ride up on these broad, strong manly shoulders," she said facetiously. "Is that red hair natural?"

"Wanna check?" I replied by habit, but I belatedly remembered who I was talking to.

"Oh, can I?" she flirted right back. "But seriously, it's such a bright and exotic color. It'll make you popular where we're going."

I wondered exactly what the color of my hair might have to do with anything but decided that where Yoruichi was involved, I'd probably be happier not knowing. I walked along in the direction she guided me absently keeping my senses open for trouble and I don't know how it happened but between one instant and the next I was surrounded! I hadn't heard or smelt or sensed anything at all around me then I look up and there they are, with weapons pointed at me. Some had spears, other bows and arrows or cross bows. I had no idea how they had done it either, the way around me was clear, and there was no cover for them to hide under, even with cover i should have been able to smell them if not sense them but one moment they were not there and the next they just appeared as if from out of the air. It hadn't been flash-step either, I would have sensed that.

"It's me, Yoruichi, ladies," the cat on my shoulder called out. "I wish to speak with your Matriarch."

"Follow, lady Yoruichi," one of the women said.

It took me a moment to get past their weapons, but when i got a good look at the weapon-bearers I goggled a bit. They were all women, they were all extremely attractive women, each of which would have given Yoruichi Shihouin a run for her money in a contest of looks. They were all tall and statuesque, with long shapely legs that they wore in high spiked heels (though how or why in forest terrain was anyones guess). The veiw from the back was definitely worth looking at and I'm the kind of guy who prefers petite, cute, tiny women as opposed to tall bombshells. The forms that were tightly wrapped in revealing leathers were very hour-glass shaped with a graceful swaying walk that did wonders for them. The only thing that seemed a little off about them were their faces, they looked sort of human, but they had an inhuman cast to them and their ears were... bunny ears. Literally, where ears on a normal woman would have been there were tall, white bunny ears, but I could tell that they were not just there for decoration, they twitched and quirked and perked at intervals to sounds that I couldn't hear and to express unspoken emotions.

After a while I asked Yoruichi

"Okay, I give, who are these... er, women."

I had almost said bunny-girls.

"These are the Mi'kote," Yoruichi replied in a soft tone as we walked where they led us. "A race that is descended from the long-ago union of Human and Nature Spirit. They are almost entirely Human in nature by this point, but they are shaped from conception by powerful magic. They have strong spiritual abilities, evidenced by thier ability to bond Elementals to them, but they also have physical mortal shells... and they require mortal men to reproduce."

Naturally, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"How do they get men way out here?"

After all, this was the Dangai, it wasn't exactly like a lucky man could just stumble down a rabbit hole and into their waiting beds.

"I suspect," Yoruichi said with a wry loo and heavy irony in her tone, as well as a significant look at all the extremely lovely swaying back-sides escorting us around. "That they have their methods. As you are well aware of, there are times of the year when the spiritual barrier between the mortal world and... elsewhere, is thinned."

"Yeah, All Hallows Eve," I replied.

"That's the big one for the Soul Reapers," Yoruichi acknowledged.

It was when all the wandering spirits, revenants and unquiet dead and... well, Hollows of course, came creeping out of the woodwork to feast on what they could get. It was the busiest time of the year for all of the divisions, every single last Reaper that was certified for feild work was called into action to stem the tide of hollows and other non-living nasties. There was of course, a friendly competition between divisions to see which Squadron could reap the most kills that night. It went by division and also among individuals by rank. Back when I'd been in Eleventh I'd held the title for most kills in my division for my rank for a straight decade running, and most kills individually out of all divisions for a total of five years here and there. No mean feat let me tell you.

"There are more such occasions that don't attract the same attention from the Soul Reapers though, times when barriers between the mortal realm and different kinds of otherworlds are thinned. Midsummer Solstice for one. Surely even you have heard of the legends about Midsummer night and how the Fae would come out from thier burroughs and dally with mortal men and women."

"Oh, so that's what happens here?"

Yoruichi gave a feline shrug and said

"Who can say?"

At this point we had reached a tree in the center of the forest, the trunk of it looked like one of those trees that looked like a whole lot of thick vines grown all together, it was so massive it might even have been several trees that had grown together. Seriously, I had seen apartment buildings that looked smaller around than it. There were thick ropey vines dotted with hair-thin strands that glowed intermittently like fiber-optic cord in soft green color. I looked up curiously to see if I could see anything among the branches and detected the intermittent glow of what looked like some kind of lantern dotting among the dense foliage.

"Reach out your hand to the vine," one of our guides said with little preamble.

Not knowing what else to do, I obeyed. the instant my hand touched the vine it snapped around my wrist, arm and waist and hoisted my upward unexpectedly. My hand flew to the hilt of Zabimaru ready to slice my way free when I was deposited just as abruptly on what I recognized easily as a floor. It was a wooden floor of course and it looked like these Mi'kote had simply gotten the tree to grow the way they wanted it to. I looked around me once to get my bearings, and then again to get past the strangeness of my surroundings. The sole light came from some kind of glowing... thing, I didn't know what to begin calling it, it looked like a giant flower made of glass but it glowed as brightly as any electric light. The room looked bare of what I would have called furniture, there were shapes here and there of vines woven together, wicker-like that looked like furniture but they were all oddly organic in nature. The very walls of the place looked like they were thin, almost membranous, wood.

Isana appeared behind me looking positively frazzled from the trip, clearly catching her breath from having been delivered in such an abrupt manner.

"Wow, it's like something out of a fantasy movie or something!" she exclaimed, looking around her.

Our whole trip had been like something out of a fantasy movie.

"Be welcome in our village, Walkers of the Ways," a voice called from beyond a curtain of vines that separated the seed pod husk hut with the hole in the floor from the rest of what I supposed must be their village.

I shrugged and shouldered out to see what awaited me.

"I know I've said it before," I said to an equally awed and taken-aback Isana beside me. "But the Realms in the Dangai just get weirder and weirder."

Their village was in the massive branches of an enormous tree. Here and there, on different levels, there were octogonal, tent-hut-like little homes built on top of massive, glowing shelves that exactly resembled tree-fungus. Bunny-women (hard to call those luscious figures "girls!") wandered here and there, some sat in what were clearly communal areas lit by huge flower-crystals that glowed like fire, some polished weapons of the front porch-shelves of their homes oblivious or uncaring of the several story-drops beneath them. Others minded children in a large fenced in area, or cooked meals over small coal braziers on top of large stone flats (a good precaution, probably wouldn't want to risk setting the tree on fire).

"I am Mi'yirin, the Matriarch of this Tree," one bunny woman, buxom but with an aura of command about her, the same one Captains got when they'd been in office long enough to grow comfortable in it. I bowed politely.

"Renji Abarai, Lieutenant of Sixth Squadron, Soul Reaper... turned mortal," I added in reply to her puzzled look. "It's a bit of a long story. This Mortal here is the reason we've come."

"Oi!" Yoruichi called from my shoulder, getting up and arching her back in a kitty stretch.

"Ah, Lady Yoruichi!" Mi'yirin said, her voice saying with out words "I should have expected."

Yoruichi quickly outlined why we were here and what she wanted from the Mi'kote. While the two women talked shop, I looked around me in greater attention.

There was a whole little village woven in among the tree branches, globes filled with some giant luminescent fungus were suspended here and there, a wise precaution since they probably didn't want to risk a fire. There was a bit organic theme going on, but after a little while something odd about what I was seeing nagged at me. It took me a few minutes of greater observation to figure out what it was but...

:_Where the heck are all of the men_?: I wondered to myself after finally realizing it.

There were bunny-girls here and bunny girls there, but there were no-bunny-boys to match. Don't get me wrong, all of the Eared Ones had amazing figures; tall, lithe with a graceful swaying walk, any one of them could have given Matsumoto or Lt. Kotetsu a run for their money in the body-that-wouldn't-quit department, but still... they were verifiably all women. I looked around to make sure, perhaps they were hiding them in the huts or something, but a quick scent-test of the air verified that all i was was all the souls there was.

"Psst!" I hissed over to Yoruichi.

She glared back at me, irritated at having been interrupted from her conversation with the bunny-queen.

"What?" she demanded.

"There ain't no other men around here?"

"A side effect of the magic that enables the change that gives them a form with enhanced speed, reflexes and magical ability," Yoruichi explained off-handedly.

Well, it looked like magic had it's price after all.

:_I sure wouldn't want to be around all these lady-warriors during that time of the month_!: I thought. :_Or maybe they just go into Season like regular bunnies_.:

My mind absently debated which would be easier for all of these women to live with while I examined in minute detail the fine workmanship on a particularly nice bow and arrows set. It looked like they had enough free time to turn to crafting artwork, I hoped they didn't spend it cat-fighting with one another. I knew from listening around that when women kept their fights Civilized, things got uglier than any squad-room brawl down in Eleventh.

:_Sound's a little lonely though, sure, they can use magic well enough that even Yoruichi Shihouin acknowledges them_,:

Which was a high recommendation indeed as far as I was concerned.

:_But even if they do spend time out patrolling their Wood, they must get lonely_...:

I blinked a little at that thought and slowly looked around me with a creeping feeling running up my back. The Mi'Kote had seemed to be ignoring us as being too inconsequential to bother with as they all went about the affairs of their own village lives, but the strange feeling of pressure wouldn't go away... in fact it had intensified. I wondered for a moment if maybe I wasn't imagining it, but my instincts for battle were hard-honed by now. I knew when I was being watched.

I couldn't help but notice the fact that I had become the center of a lot of avid attention. I'd seen the same scenario played out in movie-scenes, scenes from manga, books, and other media. The poor, young man, lost on a journey, stumbles across a harem of beautiful, nubile, eager women just waiting to welcome him with open arms... Yeah, well the reality is somewhat different from the average male fantasy. Instead of feeling charmed by all of the admiring, significant glances my way, I felt rather more like the single, hapless mouse thrown into the middle of the cattery. The gazes on these women were avid and hungry. I looked like it had been a while since these ladies had tasted man-flesh. I heard whispers of "so exotic!" and "he's tall!" and "he looks strong and healthy!"

"Hoo-boy..." I muttered to myself.

Half of those who were staring down at me with all of the intensity of a cat at a mouse-hole looked like they were going to devour me on the spot, while the rest looked like they'd take half now and save the rest for later. I swallowed a bit nervously, not wanting to risk stepping on any toes when I didn't know the customs with regard to polite behavior in this Realm, and turned my attention back to Yoruichi and the Matriarch who were just finished haggling over Isana's lessons.

It was agreed that isana would receive three days worth of training by three masters in the fields of their elements, and Lady Shihouin was of course welcome to visit their library or whaever else she would enjoy doing. The male Soul Reaper was free to do as he pleased within the bounds of the village.

"Of course Lady Shihouin, Lady Isana and your exotic young friend are more than welcome to anything in the village. We hope that you will be enjoying our hospitality..."

Was it just me or had she looked very significantly at me when she had said that? Yoruichi's little aside about how they needed men to reproduce suddenly came back to me with frightening clarity. There had been no mention of what I would be doing while Isana got her lessons from the magical bunny girls, but it was now quite clear to me exactly what they hoped I would be doing while my lady-companions were otherwise occupied.

Isana was led off to the training grounds by her new teachers with a backward call of "Stay out of trouble" back at me. She has some nerve telling me to stay out of trouble when she is the one who usually finds it in the first place. Yoruichi gave me a recognizable smirk, despite the fur and whiskers, and leapt off to do whatever it was cats did when there were trees involved, leaving me alone and defenseless to face the hordes. Okay, well, hordes was inaccurate, the village was actually sparsely populated, there were only a few huts and maybe no more than twenty women all totaled that I could see, but still... They appeared silently beside me and around me, crowding in close and a few brave little bunnies even reached out to brush my hair with their fingertips.

"It's natural!" one bunny whispered to the other. "I would give much to mother a child with such exotic coloring."

"And look how tall and healthy he is," another remarked."Such musculature."

"A male in his prime," her neighbor agreed. "He could sire many children and it seems they would all have excellent physique."

"You can sense that he is powerful as well," remarked another. "Such a fortunate combination! His strain will breed the power true."

I honestly couldn't tell whether I should feel flattered by the high praise of me, or if I should feel like a prize bull at auction.

"Look ladies," I said, trying not to betray any sighn of nervousness and hoping they couldn't smell fear. "I'm flattered by the attention, really, but I'm..."

Well, shit, i didn't have any good reason to give them. I wasn't "sword-mate" type (one who sought among their own gender for sexual gratification) and I was not currently involved with anyone. Even if I was in love, there was not even an unspoken accord between us because my little lady-love was completely oblivious to my feelings and to the last of my knowledge had chosen elsewhere. I could dally to my hearts content if I so desired. By all appearances these women were looking for what they could get and certainly were not interested in me as a permanent addition to their little tribe of bunny-warriors. I knew a lot of men who would be over-joyed with the situation, but it didn't appeal to me. Well... not really anyway. I'll admit that I've had my dalliances over the years, I was a healthy young man after all and there was nothing wrong with it when both side's knew the score. There were plenty enough who were willing to have me, especially as my good reputation among women quietly spread. I would certainly be lying if I said that I wasn't proud of that reputation as well, I'd worked at it.

I was a Barai brat, and Madame Amber arranged services often times a bit other than simple cleansing in her bathouse, paid "Nightblossoms" would voluntarily wash a patron extra thoroughly and in all the right places if thier fee was paid. These girls were not the unwilling, dragooned into a life of sin by cruel necessity either... these were paid professionals who took pride in their work and brought lovemaking to the level of art. When I had gotten to be around That Age, before I could get into trouble in my own set (or offend some thug's woman or "sisters" and get my fool self killed) Amber had neatly arranged that I would be "taken care of" by one of her ladies. She felt that any of her boys should at least have a rudimentary education in the proper care of a woman so they didn't go doing it all wrong later. (There were a lot of customs that made sense in the Rukongai that would never have flown within the walls of the Seireitei, and this was one of them.) Over the years i've had more than ample opportunity to expand my education, but I never forgot those first lessons that Nightblossom Jade taught me. Respectful treatment of the gift a woman chose to share with me was showing respect to myself. Manhood is measured not by how many women a man has lain with, but by how many would return to him eagerly.

:Still, I wonder what I'm supposed to make of this,: I thought nervously.

Being desperately in love with a woman who was out of my reach (temporarily) had not been as much a reason in my mind to forgo the joys of the flesh over the years. I was justly proud of my reputations, both for skill and for discretion (and it might be even odds in Fourth which of the two the nurses preferred) and I only ever took to the very willing and eager and at that, only those who were well aware of the score. We'd have our fun, but my heart was engaged elsewhere. Oddly, I often got the feeling that the nurses in Fourth, where I had my primary hunting grounds, were strangely relieved by that, I'd overheard two of them talking at one point about the average lifespan of a relationship for a Healer and it seems that they view most liaisons as temporary... apparently, most Reapers, or even normal types, have a very hard time sharing their mates with their positions as Healers. A Healer was a Healer first and forever, it was a calling for them that took precedence over everything else, most had a hard time accommodating to the extended hours, the night-calls that took their bed-mates away from their beds unexpectedly and at all hours, the dinner-cancellations and postponements because of some emergency or other... and were eventually left by the wayside. Maybe it was a little heartless that I took advantage of that, but it wasn't like I didn't make certain that the women who shared my bed went unsatisfied. I had my pride as a man to uphold after all, and in my world it was showing respect to myself and to the girl to make certain that a good time was enjoyed by all. Despite my unrequited love, I'd never lacked for discrete and eager bed companions once word got around Fourth that I was both enjoyable company and kept my mouth shut about who I shared my bed with after the fact. I wasn't a rooster in a henhouse, but I wasn't exactly a monk either.

However, recently I had been too busy dealing with both my new position as lieutenant and the war to spare any time for amorous pursuits. That, and I sort of got the feeling that Captain Kuchiki would look down upon someone who claimed to be trying to win his sister away from him, and yet dallied about as he pleased. So as a result I'd been going through an unusually prolonged period of chastity since taking up the vice-captaincy of Sixth.

:_I suppose most men would be flattered by all the attention_,: I thought trying not to edge away from the hungry looks of the women who were now eying me with all of the intent and ferocity of a lioness with a wounded gazelle in its sights.

I wasn't sure I wanted to be on the menu. Sure, it had been a while for me and I wasn't usually adverse to a good roll in the hay when I had the free time, but as far as I was concerned I was right in the middle of a mission. This was no time for dallying about.

One of the taller, more voluptuous and fiercer of the women started to strut right over to me with a slightly smirking backwards look to the knot of other interested females behind her. Something about that smirk just put my back up. It was like she believed herself to be one hundered percent irresistable. Granted, she was... incredible, no denying that one, but I didn't like the idea of being anyone's trophy. I stood taller, pulled back my shoulders to bring myself to my full, broad and (if I do say so myself) impressive height and crossed my arms over my chest, looking slightly down at her as she sashayed her delectible behind my way.

"Can I help you with something?" I inquired in my driest interpretation of Kuchiki... not that Captain in the same position would have had to lower himself to speaking, no, one look and beautiful bunny-girl over there would have bolted for her nearest burrow or risk getting her ears frozen solid.

"Your companions find themselves other wise occupied, perhaps you would like to enjoy some company," the bunny-girl said, deliberately posing to show her numerous assets to best effect.

"And perhaps not," I said firmly. "Thank you for the offer, but I have my own matters to be concerned with."

With that, I bowed politely and walked right past her and the know of others. I could hear her splutter with indignation but... well, there was nothing she could do about it.

I went back to the guest hut that had been set aside for us and pulled out more blank sheafs of paper that were used for writing field reports on. They had an actual desk in the hut, which was a luxury that I hadn't had for most of my field-mission, so Captain should have fewer complaints about my illegible handwriting. I thought about it long and hard, as to whether or not I should write the part about Isana's ability to bind zanpaktou with her powers into my report to the Captain. On the one hand it was a very important and very pertinent peice of information, one that might possibly change the nature of the war, and the Seireitei's strategies towards waging it. On the other hand, it was a very volatile piece of information... if I reported it to my Captain, he would be honor-bound to report it the the Captain-General, Yamamoto, and that might spell trouble for the little missy. I couldn't imagine that the Head-Captain would like the idea of a human walking around with the power to seal away zanpaktou, not only that but with the added result of turning their wielders into Hollows. He'd probably covertly give the order that something needed to be done about that particular ability, and in my opinion the poor little human had already been through enough, and I didn't want to have to try and protect her from any of the Seireitei's scary ninja death-squad hitmen, I had enough on my plate already.

:_I guess I'll just add it the growing pile of things that I'll be reporting to him about off the record_,: I thought ruefully.

I was still on the bench a little bit about Zabimaru's new form but I was leaning more toward just telling him about it rather than waiting to surprise him with it when we eventually went head to head in our next fight. Frankly, the more I thought about it, the more childish my concealment seemed, I was his lieutenant, if I had an advantage to bring to a battlefield my captain should know about it, anything less would be putting my personal motive above my duty and that was wrong as well as unprofessional. My conscience goaded me about that one and so I added a short addendum to my latest report, saying that I wished to discuss with him a new technique with Zabimaru I had learned while in the field at his earliest convenience after I got back.

I wasn't going to add in anything about Isana being his (reincarnated) wife right then either. She was technically still mortal even if she did have new powers and thus, beyond his reach. If I told him about it now he'd just be distracted by worrying about her, or he might just call me back home early just so he could ream me and I agreed with his original assessment of me being more useful out here in the feild. The binding-mark thing could also wait until I got back as well, it wasn't hugely important, nor was it seireitei business.

The stuff that made it into my report would be plenty interesting for him to read anyway; I discussed the Mortal woman's increasing proficiency with the use of her binding spell against Shadows, my latest encounter with them as well as her growing profficincey with using her elemental magic, and Yoruichi's side-trip for further training. I did detail the Mi'kote and their world but left out the fact that they all seemed a little man-hungry. I'd share that one with Kira or Shuuhei when I wrote them or saw them next. I wrapped the report in a message scroll and added on the most recent Shadow that Isana had bound up for delivery by Yoruichi later. Then, having actual free-time, I decided to write Kira and Momo reply letters to the ones they'd sent me. Momo's I filled the margins with illustrations of the worlds I;d visited recently as well as some of my recent adventures, including the episode with the killer tree that nearly ate the mortal-woman. Kira also got descriptions of the worlds and a depiction of the mi'kote society. I wondered if I should write to Rukia, the last letter I'd gotten seemed to indicate that she was pretty mad at me and I wouldn't put it past her to just rip it up... heaven only knew what her reaction to the sex-crazed bunny-girls would be. Still, it'd probably make her even madder at me if Kira and Momo and her brother all got letters and she didn't, so I wrote her a letter asking her why the hell she was so mad at me, and then went on to tell her that her drawing still stank and finished up with a shortened version of my trip after the last set of letters I'd wrote to her. I left out the bunny girls.

The constant on the go lifestyle of the little road trip I'd been taking had really begun to wear even on me so I decided that I had earned a nice long nap so I washed up quickly in a nearby spring down on the ground below... with over a dozen well-hidden long-eared admirers I was sure and went back up to turn in early.

* * *

**I am so, so sorry that this one took so long to get posted. First I had finals to study for and take, then there was my actual graduation! I have my degree, yay! Go me! Then my family moved up north so there was all the packing for them to do. Then there was the hustle and bustle of the holidays, and work gave me extra hours since I wasn't going anywhere. I just kept putting the writing off. It was inspired by my playing Final Fantasy 12 again (my very favorite one) and the chapter with the Viera village in the woods, in which there are no men and I always sort of wondered, y'know, where are all the men. I mean, I can understand fanservice, but really now, where do they get more veira from, and that whimsy spawned the opening bit. Part of it was that I had originally had something of a different idea for the chapter but every time I went to write it, it just wasn't happeneing... finally I decided that it was my inner muse raising the red OOC flag at me so I went with Renji sitting down and finishing off his reports and darned if it didn't just flow naturally. You'll all be happy to know that the next chapters will be posted on a regular schedule. I'm back!**

**~Nightheart.  
**


	60. At It Like Rabbits

**Warning: lemons ahoy.**

To judge by the very slight slant of the sunlight when I pulled the covers back from around my head it was about mid-day in that Realm when I finally woke up. I was feeling a bit groggy and stiff from an unaccustomed overabundance of sleep and my stomach was tellin' me it'd like to get full again. I didn't know how differently time might pass from Realm to Realm, but my belly was never wrong about these things. I stretched out and wondered if I should start out with my usual morning routine with Zabimaru, but decided that it could wait until after I'd found something to eat.

I poked my nose out of the little hut I'd been given to sleep in. I hadn't woken up with any brave little bunny girls in my bed that morning so they must all have some sense of propriety when it comes to treating a guest. There was a basket filled with strange fruits of various sizes and another next to it with small round loaves of bread and a long-necked bottle of fruit scented water. I pulled the bounty provided to me by my gracious hosts in after me and tucked in. Isana, I had to assume, was already being fed and housed elsewhere with her teachers. The rumbling in my stomach abated as I filled it and I came to realize that for the first time in a good long while, I was at loose ends.

Even before I became Lieutenant of Sixth, having nothing much facing me was rare. Practically from the day I had graduated the academy (with the goal of beating Kuchiki so I could redeem my stupid mistake and maybe win back Rukia for myself) I had always been doing something. There were a lot of things that required a lot of training and practice and that was usually what I filled my free hours with. First came shikai, then mastery over it, then as I climbed ranks in Eleventh I learned the ins and outs of the paperwork, commands and expectations that came commensurate with my increasing ranks. If I had a few hours to kill there was always a good sparring session with Madarame, or if Madarame wasn't free, Kira (and more rarely Momo) or Shuuhei could be convinced to go a round with my to help me sharpen my skills. If not training or simply hanging out with my friends, drinking or mooching off someone for lunch, there was ranked officer stuff to deal with. Eleventh was the squadron that was most well known for the strength of the fight in its reapers, and with Zaraki being Zaraki and our little lieutenant being Yachiru... all of the paperwork for the damages, the payroll, the requisitions and supplies (etcetra ad infinatum, as Kira would say) was handed down to the lower ranked members. Madarame called it repayment for taking up his time (even if he did love to fight just as much as me) but it wasn't a lie to say that by the time I ever got around to trying out for my promotion to Lieutenant I was already well practiced with all of the work that was expected of that rank. All of these things, including the fun I had in my free hours when i wasn't training, ate up the years that I only measured by how much stronger I got.

:It feels kinda strange to be totally without sumthin' ta do,: I thought partly to myself.

I'd rested as much as I cared to, my belly was already full. I couldn't see myself lazing around much. I could be a laid back kind of guy but I preferred to be out doing things. Already the itch in my blood and at the soles of my feet called me out to see what I might find in the wild wood. There was bound to be something out there. Logic told me that if these bunny girls spent time out there patrolling the wood then there had to be threats that were considered dangerous enough to need patrolling against. If I was really lucky there was a fight good enough for me to warrant using my bankai for practice against it.

My mind made up, I felt the restlessness inside me goad me into action. I dropped down through a hole in the floor, shikai-ing the saw-toothed snake-tail form of Zabimaru on the way down. I caught the teeth of his head on the wooden lip of the hole in the floor and extended the blade as I went down, pulling on it to slow my fall as the ground rushed towards me. The end of the line snapped and sprung like a bungee cord and I dropped neatly the last few feet to the soft, leaf-covered turf.

"Going down, ding ding..." I joked humorously to myself.

:Very funny, weilder,: Zabimaru noted dryly from the back of my mind as he caught the fact that I'd been teasing him partly.

I stripped to the waist and left the mortal-style shoes and socks off my feet. The day was pleasantly warm and I was comfortable wearing nothing more than the slightly clingy pants of toughened blue cloth mortal favored while I dipped my torso under the water of the pool at the base of the tree for a quick wash up. I shook the water off me like a dog and pulled back my hair while it was still wet.

I ignored the sursurations of movement for above me and pretended that the sighs came from the wind, but really, couldn't a man get some privacy for a bath?

"Up for some light morning excersize?" I asked my sword, suddenly wishing myself away from the unspoken desires of a people who were strange to me.

:You just can't stand not havin' nuthin' ta do, can ya?: Snakey demanded of me.

:It has been an exhausting journey, perhaps you should take this opportunity to rest up,: Babs recommended.

That was rare, Zabimaru usually reprimanded me for going out drinking and partying too much with my friends when I should be practicing with him to grow stronger.

"I think I'll rest better away from the village," I replied cryptically.

I flash-stepped off in a random direction, zipping along the ground at what, for me, was a decent pace.

:Call me out, and let me show you how it is done,: Babs said to me.

manifestation of a Zanpaktou's spirit form was possible only for those who had already achieved, or were about to achieve bankai... thus, it was a rare ability. I was proud of myself that I could do such a thing. I shrugged and did the particular mental and spiritual twist-pull-push that called a creature of spirit into the world. Baboon King Zabimaru appeared beside me, running along the forest floor in the way of a baboon; reaching forward with his powerful fore-limbs and pulling along his hindquarters. It should have looked ridiculous and awkward, especially with the snake hovering up behind him, but it didn't. Especially when he pulled himself up easily into the trees by branch and vine. His powerful form grasped the trunks of trees and scaled them and leaped as easily from branch to branch and tree to tree as a bird would fly. It made me want to try it.

I had just recently gotten good at that trick where I slid down the flats of Zabimaru's blade when he's still fully extended, moving the way a surfer would ride the curl of a wave. After a long moment of careful observation I decided that mimicking Zabimaru's easy movements in and among the treetops was not impossible for me. I pulled myself up on one twisted-vine covered trunk and and surveyed the distance between one tree branch and the next then tested the solidity of the branch beneath me.

:You'll never get anywhere like that,: Zabs scoffed at me.

I watched as he whizzed right past me, sprung off the branch like a trampoline and caught himself easily on another branch using that to bounce himself up higher then slide down a tangle of vines to the trunk, scrabble up it and then fall down to his next destination. It looked like fun. It also looked like a good way to break my neck.

"Race you to the river!" Snakey called back at me.

That decided me. I was a lot of things but a chicken wasn't one of them, and I never backed down from a challenge. I took a running start down the the trunk-like thickness of the tree limb that really looked like a lot of other smooth-barked branches all grown together, pulled on one of the numerous vines that looked like a lot of thick hair grown all together and pulled hard, using the backspring to launch me awkwardly into the air. I tried not to flail my limbs as I misjudged the distance and headed just about straight for the trunk of the tree in front of me.

"Gaaah!" I cried unable to stop myself from a noise of dismay as I braced for impact.

I suppose I would have impacted with the tree trunk, if I hadn't gotten beaned by a branch first. Rukia was always teasing me about what a thick, hard skull I had, but right then it was a blessing rather that a curse. I was only very mildly stunned as I went crashing down through the foliage, trying to gather my scattered wits enough to grasp one of the branches. It was the one that punched into my stomach that stopped me.

"Ulf," I grunted but wrapped my arms around it an pulled myself up onto it.

It hadn't exactly been the most glorious of first attempts, but then again, when I'd first been getting to know the ins and outs of Zabimaru's tricky snake-tail form it hadn't exactly been a walk through the park either. I pulled the leaves from my hair and took a running start along the thick, twisty-limbed branch I'd landed on and aimed for the next tree.

"Ha! Made it!" I exulted as I landed on the branch that time... right before it nearly snapped under my weight. I instinctively flash-leaped forward and smacked into the tree trunk this time.

:Renji, you almost disappoint me, are you goofing off?" Zabimaru asked me as he hung upside down right in front of my face.

"Leemee alone!" I snapped, embarrassed.

Snakey wove down around the other side of me and hissed into my ear

:With th' way yer movin' you'd think you'd never used my form at all over the last forty years."

I throttled my irritation and felt the smooth bark of the branch beneath me swaying slightly with the movement of the tree. Zabimaru leaped easily from limb to limb like a fish swam through water.

"Show off," I muttered, but I got what he was doing.

The canopy top wasn't like walking along rooftops or solid earth, there among the branches swayed by the wind and the spring and snap of living wood, movement was the constant. The environment was always changing, ever so slightly, i had to be aware of my surroundings down to the last nuance if i was going to move among it. I closed my eyes and listened, letting the wood fill me sense by sense, first the sound of it, then the myriad cocktail of taste-scent on my tongue, then smell, then touch through the soles of my bared feet, until at last I opened my eyes and took in every detail around me. i crouched, tensing my muscles and sprang off.

The feeling of the wind rushing around me was nice, the drop of descent and the soft give of the branch I landed squarely and with perfect balance on was more forgiving than the harsh ground but also more difficult to balance on due to its lack of solidity. I swayed for a moment trying to stay upright as the branch moved underneath me, my foot slipped and my body adjusted the exact same way that i did when i rode down snakey's tail. Sliding down the branch I pushed off at the trunk to find another one, then pulled and swung up again into the air. Babs was still in front of me.

"Better watch yer back, Fuzzy, I'm on my way!" I called a challenge back to him.

Having found my center, we resumed our race. He was far more practiced and agile than I was, but that would come in time and practice. Sadly, but not unpredictably, he won the race and we gulped down water from the river with an easy feeling of comraderie between us. Outside of this wood a war in the Spirit World held its breath, a strange enemy amassed its forces and worked towards a goal I did not yet know the purpose of, and forces gathered yet dismissing any importance I might have in the grand scheme of things. Many things waited and took place in shadow while I did nothing of any real importance here in this wood, but surely a few stolen days here would not matter overmuch. I felt like a kid playing truant from classes, but surely it was alright to rest just for a little while.

:Taking care of that mortal woman can be exhausting!: I thought to Zabimaru.

She was a nice enough girl most of the time, but damned if she didn't find some of the darnedest situations for me. So far I'd rescued her from countless minor Feral realm-dwellers, I'd defeated at lest four Guardian Spirits for her, the defeat of Katschei the Deathless had left me with a heartstone, and not to mention the tournament with the Elves that had netted her that armor she wore and the not-horse she rode on. All of this in addition to the fact that I guarded her at night from additional Ferals when we stopped to make camp, and I didn't even get to sleep in the tent! It wasn't that I didn't think she wouldn't make room for me if I asked her to, it was just that...

:If Captain ever caught wind of me sharing sleeping arrangements with his woman, mortal or not, there wouldn't be enough of me left to feed to a cat.:

Yoruichi might take a malicious sort of delight in devouring the tiny quivering bits of me that were left, or if not her, then I was sure the Captain would feed me to his fish. Not his prize koi of course, oh no, such an end would be too good for the likes of me. He probably had another fishpond way out back that he reserved for getting rid of the last few traces of his enemies. My brain stuck on that thought, a little tickled by the notion that my Captain might keep carnivorous fish for the purpose of disposing of evidence; it was simple and elegant, and he did seem to have a strange attachment to his koi ponds. I shook my head, a little amused at my fancy. Maybe someday, after we'd had a few years to settle into being Captain and Lieutenant (and I caught him on a good day,) I'd share the notion with him.

:Or maybe not,: I reconsidered. :I'm too afraid that he might, in fact, find the idea to be a good one.:

I didn't want to end up as fish food.

My muscles were good and warmed up by now and Zabimaru and I took advantage of the relative quiet and privacy to unbind the first three chakra gradually as we ran through a number of the forms. We able to take longer at it than just a quick practice session before we broke camp for the day, and after that good rest (and the fact that I wasn't at all injured) I was in top form and we could really concentrate on getting the power flowing through my body. My reiatsu struggled a bit but soon began to pulse and flow steadily within my, pushing a pulling, ebbing and flowing with every measured breath i took. Each breath corresponded to an exact measure of movement, power cracked off the ends of powerful thrusts and jabs, added extra spring to leaps and blasted out of the ends of kicks. I had been a brawler out in District 78 before I'd ever been a Soul Reaper, and even in Eleventh Squad I'd gotten into my share of fist fights because not everything there was a sword-drawing offense but likewise couldn't be let to slide, so more often than not we'd smack each other around for a while before we had a drink to settle it. I'd been a fist-fighter for a while, but I'd never really felt true power like this before. Not where it was part of every movement; attack, defense and avoidance.

Out of curiosity I pulled in and centered a small pool of power in my lower chakra and wove myself into a fighting pattern that led me straight to the base of one of the massive trees in that wood. I launched my finishing blow right into the center of the trunk. The wood shattered in an explosion around me as I instinctively crossed my arms and shielded to keep the wood splinters from piercing my flesh. There was a creaking groan and then when felt like a thunderclap as the trunk split and the leafed sky-pillar fell before me. I looked at my knuckles, glowing softly with a lingering orangey-gold aura and not bleeding at all. I hadn't felt a thing. I blinked.

"That's how it's done," Zabimaru said from one side of me.

There was no mistaking the pleased satisfaction in his tone.

"Yeah," I agreed, a little dazed.

Prosaically, my stomach rumbled.

"I guess we should get back," I said to him.

We took to the tree tops for further practice in maneuverability, and my new found mastery over the power in my movements added further challenges to the game for Zabimaru insisted that I should practice it. By the time I made it back to the bounds of the tree-top village I'd be in need of a Healer, but that was the price one paid for greater strength and mastery.

It was my good luck that, as I was heading home, a nice, big Feral placed itself in my path. A creature long and thin with reverse haunches and a waist like a tree, several top-limbs and skin that was hard, like bark, with wooden spike like spines protruding all over it rasped at me in challenge. I smiled my fierce battle-smile, the one any fighter of any worth tended to pick up in Eleventh after a while, and resisted the urge to sing "I'm a Lumberjack and I'm Okay" as I went to work.

Zabimaru was already out in manifested form, so I couldn't really call on the blade without unmanifesting him, and I just didn't feel like doing that. So, since we had been practicing with enhanced zanjutsu I just decided to have a good old fashioned brawl with him and flew at him with my fists. I'd almost forgotten, in my relentless drive to perfect all aspects of my swordsmanship in the hope of beating Kuchiki, just how much fun it really was to just lay into someone. Especially someone who gave almost as good as he got. I dodged out of the way of his counter strikes, spiked with the wood of his body as they were and concentrated on finding and shattering all of the weak points in his physical shell.

Like most fights, it was quick and brutal, over with a little bit quickly for my sense of fun, but the Rukongai in me prompted me not to draw out a fight and give my enemy a possible opening to defeat me. In Rukongai, if you had to fight at all, you defeated your opponent as quickly as possible in hopes they wouldn't summon allies. The Feral was quickly reduced to kindling and fell to one side, revealing a hollow in the nearby tree trunk, something sparkled from within it, pulling on my curiosity. So I went to investigate.

The little niche in the tree was filled with a nest-like basket holding about twelve or thirteen stones. They were vaguely egg-shaped and of various sizes ranging from about the size of a robins egg to one that was a little larger than a goose egg. They weren't exactly smooth though they did look polished, they were all sort of multi-facted and milky-white, or rather, more like an opal, where sparks of color appeared and moved about randomly within it. They also glowed from within, a marble-sized dot of light at the heart of a glowing fire-opal, that sort of pulsed slightly, like a heartbeat. I shrugged to myself and thought perhaps my hosts would know what was best to do with them. I picked up the basket and brought it with me as I journeyed through the trees. It was a challenge dealing with my new-found additional power without dropping any of them, but it sort of made it fun.

"Honey, I'm home!" I called whimsically as I landed in a crouch on one of the main flat areas that a number of the communal activities that took place in the village were performed at.

"Are you quite alright, Mortal Soul Reaper?" one of the bunny-girls (who had been fletching an arrow when I had dropped in) inquired of me in a worried tone.

"I'm fine," I assured her. "This is minor, really. The usual ya get when ya put all yer best inta a good practice. An' I found myself a good fight on the way back, I just need a quick visit with the healer, so if you'd be nice an' show me where I kin find one..."

"I am able to perform healing magic, if all it is is a flesh wound," the bunny girl offered.

"Oh! Thanks!" I smiled at her, and presented my tatooed arm, where I'd sliced it several times on several occasions navigating the rough bark of the woods. "Much obliged."

"My pleasure," she said, looking a little short of breath as she summoned up a glowing green circle in lines and sigils between her cupped hands and a softly glowing green light emanated from it touching on the wounds on my arms and torso and neck and shoulders. They glowed and then faded.

"Would you like a further examination?" she asked me, looking hopeful.

I smiled warmly at her and (a little reluctantly) shook my head.

"You can do sumthin' else for me though," I said and showed her my basket full of strange stone eggs. "Tell me what these are."

She gasped as her eyes widened in both awe and delight. Her little bunny-girl face lit right up.

"Wow! So many! You must be really strong and powerful!"

Maybe it was bad of me, but I'll admit that I preened a little bit under the look of naked longing on her face as she looked at my bare chest.

"I don' wanna brag but..." I said, resisting the urge to flex a little bit. I was not some immature teenager after all.

I noticed that our formerly mostly unoccupied little spot was becoming quite the little hub for bunny girls to oh so casually bring whatever it was they were working on with them to work out of doors in the fresh air I was sure.

"So what are they?" I asked her.

"These stone eggs are where our tame elementals are born from," one of the nearby bunny-girls explained. "We call them mancers."

Another chimed in with

"When a Mi'kote comes of age, they go on a dangerous coming-of-age quest to acquire one of these eggs that hold a mancer, within it. When the egg hatches, the mancer becomes part of it's "parents" essence, becoming an extension of their will, enabling them to control the magic of its nature."

"I remember my first mancer," one bunny-girl reminisced.

"So when these things hatch all of 'em are just gonna what, imprint on the first thing it sees, like a baby duck?" I asked, wanting to be sure.

"Basically, that's how it works," one of the small group of bunny-girls replied.

"Mancer-eggs are very very difficult to acquire," the voice of the Matriarch said, appearing from out of no where almost right beside me.

"I have lived in these woods for a very long time, and I've never seen so many together all at once in all of my life."

"I beat some kind of giant tree-thing," I replied.

"Tree-thing?" The matriarch inquired archly.

I shrugged and took a charcoaled stick from out of the fire and drew a quick sketch of the enemy I'd beat a little while ago on a nearby surface. Some of the bunny-girls jaws dropped as they stared at me, other exchanged glances like they couldn't believe what they'd just heard.

"You beat a tree-reaver?" one girl asked, sounding shocked.

"Is that what it was?" I asked. "Yeah, he wasn't to hard, musta ben young one, cuz he didn't seem ta put up a whole lotta fight. O' course I've gotten used ta dealin' with Arrancars and thier Vasto Lorde cousin's so I guess that there are a lot of things out there that seem pretty weak when ya compare 'em."

"Tree-reavers are one of the greater dangers that we Mi'kote guard the Wood against. They are predators who prey on nature-spirits, they harvest mancer eggs, waiting until the Mancer hatches and then consuming the power of the Nature spirit while it is still young and vulnerable."

There had been predators like that in Rukongai too, though what they did with any "hatchling" that was unfortunate or unwary enough to be caught by them is better left unsaid.

"A strong reaver will grow stronger, and become a danger to us, the Mi'kote," the matriarch explained. "For once they grow enough in strength, they always come to prey on we who have a larger concentration of mancers that are full grown in thier power."

"Glad I could save ya the trouble o' killin' this one. Truth ta tell though, I did it mostly cuz I was bored," I admitted.

"Mancer eggs," the queen said a little archly. "Are far more valuable than gold, than platinum, than... well, just about anything you could think of. It is not just true in this Realm, where we Mi'kote make them a part of our lives, it is true in every Realm you will come to. You can sell them or trade them for about any sum or favor that you would care to mention, Lieutenant of Sixth Squad Renji Abarai. A single egg of even small dimension represents a vast deal of power."

"So I guess eggs and bacon are out of the question," I joked wryly.

"Quite," the matriarch replied.

"Any of these things likely ta be fluffy and furry when it hatches?" I asked her hopefully as a sudden idea occurred to me.

I could take one of these eggs back to Rukia as a present. She loved fluffy, cute things. The downside of owning a bunny was that they tended to be short lived and Rukia didn't like to loose things she loved. One of these babies though... well, if it was a spirit thing, then it was bound to live a really really long time! I'd have gotten her the best present ever!

"The appearance of the mancer depends on its nature. Many of the air ones are, as are some of the water. Some few earth ones too, depending on the nature of their power. Fire ones, almost never though, fur would be a detriment to a creature of flame," one of the other bunny girls said.

"Any way o' tellin' what it's supposed ta look like?" I asked.

"It might take some time, but one of our water-mancers should be able to sense the form of the mancer inside the eggs," one of the bunny girls volunteered.

"We will consider it repayment for destroying the tree-reaver," the matriarch said.

"Thanks!" I said, grinning up at her.

With any luck, there'd be a nice, cute fluffy one in this lot for me to give to Rukia. She was sure to be so pleased and happy about it that she'd forgive me for whatever I'd done to make her mad this time.

:And maybe I'll give one to Kira and Momo too,: I thought consideringly.

As far as I was concerned, you couldn't go wrong with something that would love you unconditionally and didn't take up much room. These things didn't really appear to even have fleas!

:I'm not sure what I'll do with the rest though,: I thought with a shrug. :Maybe sell them, I could use some solid cash ta augment all the time I've spent AWOL and Captain's docked my pay for. Plus, it's always nice ta have a little nest-egg, no pun intended, saved away just in case.:

The matriarch took the basket with her and bid me a fine evening. The other bunny girls crowded around me and begged to hear about my battle with the tree reaver. After a moment or two of expectant stares I got the feeling they were asking less because they wanted to hear my tale of derring-do and more because it gave them all an excuse to crowd in around me and make a big show of how impressed they were by me.

There were two or three particularly aggressive ones that crowded up my space. I had come to be a good judge of reading people and situations over the years and rarely did I misjudge when I had enough information to go on (the thing ith Ichigo had been mixed-up from the get-go). The three girls who crowded in on me I could tell were the three top little queens of the village; by what they said of themselves, it was they who had brought down the most prey, they who's mancers were the strongest, and they who had been proven fertile time and again (i.e. they had contributed to the village population most often). Granted, it was easy to tell by looking at them how that last one had come to be, they were all tall and statuesque women, long and shapely of limb and fair of face. However...

Well, there were these smaller, sadder-looking bunny girl's in the back, the ones who hovered on the edge of the gathering, playing with children nearby and every now and then casting a wistful, longing eye my way.

:Watcha think, Zabs? You see what I see?: I asked him.

:Smaller, frailer specimens of their type,: he agreed with me. :Not as suited for hunting or fighting, and relegated to village tasks.:

:An' it looks like they get to raise everyone else's kids but their own,: I thought, feeling sad for them.

One particularly intrepid bunny-girl brought two of her kids carefully to the edge of the fire and visibly pushed herself into raising her voice to be heard over the bunny-girl to my left who had offered to give a long massage after all that work I had done today.

"Will you tell another story?" she asked of me. "The Mortal who travels with you carries a charm that grants permission to use a Binding spell from each of the four Elemental Courts, perhaps you could tell us how that came to be."

I smiled a little at her because she looked partly terrified by the act of putting herself forward, and partly because her request had earned her the feircest glares of the females nearest me, the strongest in the tribe. The girl was joined by another tiny woman with a bunny-child on each hip, who deposited her little long-eared burdens to have Storytime With Renji. Well, I wasn't against it, some of the other Soul Reaper men might grouse about it not bein' manly, but I was a Barai brat, and I'd kept ties with my onee-san who saw nothing wrong with pressing her prodigal son into babysitting service. I liked kids. I planned to have as many of them as the woman I loved could be convinced to let me father on her.

"Sure thing," I smiled at her.

She blushed hotly and tried to cover it by fussing with the child in her arms. I had to admit that I was getting a bit of a kick out of being the only rooster in the henhouse. The three village warrior-queens leaned in, pressing themselves adoringly against me as I began the tale of my visit to the Earth Court, the subsequent quest laid on me by Genbu-sama, my surprise battle against my own zanpaktou, Zabimaru, and then my sneak-in and battle with Katschei (leaving out the part about how I had assumed his Realm and heartstone for myself). They were all appropriately impressed, but I was sure if that was genuine wonder or an attempt to act impressed in hopes I'd go to bed with one of them. By the end of my tale the little ones were nodding off, and thier two caretakers were looking up at me with stars in their eyes. I'd have ta be a far, far greater man than I was not to be a little bit moved by that. Still, I didn't want to leave a string of broken hearts behind me either.

"I too have faced dangers out in the Wild Wood," the warrior-queen bunny on my left told me and launched into a quick tale of one particularly gruelling fight she'd had with what they called a Clinger (a forest creature who dropped down, smothered its prey and then sucked the live right out of them).

"So you see," the bunny-girl finished. "I have strength and endurance as well as bravery and powerful Mana. Any offspring you could give me would be best served by having such traits on both sides."

"I guess that makes sense if ya wanna look at it that way," I said neutrally.

It was a little sad to hear me reduced to genetic factors. I didn't think bravery, was really something that would be bred. Maybe to a certain degree, but a soul existed as it existed, regardless of its parents.

"I have birthed three fine whelps, all of which have grown to be a credit to the village," she pressed her case. "And you will find it, I am certain, to be no hardship at all to share my bed."

She posed in such a way as to make all of her many fine attributes display themselves. I couldn't help but admire the view, she was a very very beautiful woman, tall and proud and graceful as any depiction of an amazon queen. I wasn't the sort who preferred meek, docile women either, I liked a woman with a lot of spirit and fight in her (maybe too much exposure to Rukia too early in my life had permanently warped my tastes) but when the bunny girl slyly glanced out of the corner of her eye at the poor smaller, weaker, shyer bunny-girl sitting just at the edge of the gathering and smirked, any attraction I might have felt for her shriveled instantly and was killed deader than dead. It was especially sad to see the hopeful look on little babysitter bunny-girl's face turn to resigned dejection.

I could see the scenario now, amazon-queen bunny girl probably got first dibs on any adventurers traveling through the lands or lured down the rabbit hole on a mid-summer night. They had the babies (which probably in turn increased their status in the tribe) and left them to be raised and nurtured by the less-useful, weaker ones while the queens got to go out and fight and hunt and do whatever it was they did. Poor little bunny girls got to stay home and mind everyone else's kids and never had any of their own.

:Ya think I'm readin' too much into it Zabs?" I asked him of my imaginary scenario.

We watched as she visibly consoled herself by dandling the child on her knees.

:Nope, I'm pretty sure you're spot on about it,: Zabs assured me.

:Good, cuz I think I'm feelin' a little contrary,: I told him with an inward smile.

I could feel his answering smile tickle the back of my mind. I stood up, bringing myself to my full, broad and powerful height, and had to almost visibly restrain myself from strutting as I walked over and fetched the little bunny-child out of little miss bunny's arms. I walked back over to amazon-queen bunny and promptly deposited the gift.

"I'm glad to hear you've so many little ones," I told her with my falsely-bright lying-lieutenant smile, not bothering to hide the fact that I was sort of enjoying handing her a set-down. "You'll have no problem lookin' out fer these ones for the next little while then."

I walked back to the tinier bunny girl and scooped her up.

"Just yer bad luck," I said to the amazon queen over my shoulder. "That I prefer petite girls."

The one I was carrying off bridal-stlye in my arms looked happily dazzled and my conscience suddenly panged at me on two counts. She might not actually want me, I mean, I was a stranger after all...

"This alright with you?" I asked her. "Cuz we don't have to if ya don't want to..."

"I want to!" she exclaimed eagerly then looked embarrassed at her outburst.

"Also, I think it's only fair ta warn ya," I added on. "My heart's already got an owner that ain't me. We can have our fun, but..."

"You would not be able to stay anyway," the bunny-girl informed me. "This Realm is not meant for mortals. it's very nature would eventually reject you. In any case, a little while is all we will ever have."

"Oh, well..." I said feeling a bit bad that I was relieved at an easy out. "If a little while is all we'll have I'll certainly leave you with a good memory."

When she blushed again I thought that I might be entering virgin territory. Well, if I was, I shrugged, I'd just make it extra special for her.

"I didn't get your name, miss," I said as I navigated the tree limbs back to my little guest hut.

"Lin'ata," she told me.

"That's a pretty name," I replied as I pushed the round little door aside (it rolled into the wall like a coin on its edge, and then could be made to roll back) and stepped into my sleeping room. The bed was already made up, and someone had thoughtfully left a fresh basket of tidbits suitable for trysting nearby. How thoughtful of them.

Sex among two people who barely knew each other could be awkward when not spurred on by lust and passion of the moment. I'd had a few decades to learn my way around the pointy bits of it but Lin'ata hadn't. I'd grant her points for trying her best though, when I set her down to look at the contents of the bottle they'd given me so I could decide how much to pour she dove right in there and started working her clothes off.

"Slow down a little, we got all night an' I ain't goin' nowhere," I said, chuckling at her.

She did sort of look at me like she was half afraid I might decide to. Awwww. I fed her some of the fruit-alcohol to calm her down a loosen her up a bit before I led her over to the round, nest-like bed that was a deal more than big enough for two (even for a guy my size, and I wasn't tiny) sat on it and pulled her closer. She stayed standing while I sat in front of her.

"Is it... can I touch it?" she asked hesitantly.

I looked at her in question. She was looking at my hair.

"Yeah, it's real," I told her a little humorously. "All me, baby."

She looked at me in confusion so I just smiled and tugged the hair band out.

"Go ahead and play," I invited, trying to keep the mood light.

Truth to tell, I loved having my hair played with. There was a reason why ancient kings and warriors had once considered long hair to be a man's pride rather than a mark of femininity, feeling a woman run her fingers through your hair was instantly erotic and quite addicting. I didn't see how all those men who wore their hair short went without the pleasure of it, but I supposed that was on them.

"It's so thick and bright," she noted, scritching my scalp a little, I leaned my head into the attention. Hah... bliss. But there was something I just had to know...

"Do you mind if I...?" I asked, reaching up towards her long, up-standing ears.

I'd wanted to do that ever since I'd gotten into the village. I ran my finger tips delicately along the shell of them. They were furry, like kitten fur and the smelled dry and slightly spicy, like the soft, cinimony scent of bird feathers. Her breath caught when I played along the outside edge of one. Jackpot. I repeated the attention as I leaned in and nuzzled along the side of her neck, she had a very woodsy-scent to her skin.

I was a very tactile person, I always had been. Even as a child, among my gang-mates if hugging was frowned on as being unmanly, my "brothers" could always expect a rough sort of affection. The habit hadn't disappeared any over the years, Kira had long since resigned himself to putting up with the one-armed man-hug at odd moments when he looked like he needed it most. Momo, the only other "girl" in my life besides Rukia, was a safer target for my need for touch. It never went into pervert territory, but she was liberally blessed with physical tokens of affection in the form of chaste hugs, hair-ruffles, pick-her-up and-swing-her-around whenever I could find an excuse. I loved touch, which was probably one reason why celibacy just simply didn't work for me. I craved physical contact, maybe it was the result of being bonded to (essentially) a baboon, which was an extremely sociable and tactile animal. While she was getting over the novelty of my hair I started working my hands over her skin, slowly loosening her clothes, savoring the smooth feel of it. I suckled along her collarbone and shoulder, she had a very pleasant spring-like taste, then paused to nibble near the nape of her neck. She let out a soft gasp and I felt attraction simmer within me.

She had soft hands that played over my shoulders and down my back as I closed my eyes to feel the pleasant sensation of her skin over mine. I could feel her curiously trace the lines of my binding marks with her fingertips, scratching very lightly as though she were amazed that they didn't come off. Meanwhile I began to unfasten her clothes, which were put on more like armor than clothing. The breast-piece buttoned up the right side and the tight hose she wore fastened at the back to accommodate the little tiny puff of a tail just above her shapely, firm little derriere. The clothes came off easily and I pulled her forward onto my lap and on the bed where I started to stroke and knead down her back with my hands while I buried my face in her front to fully enjoy her scent.

Lin'ata made delighted noises when I cupped her bottom to bring her closer, took a breast in my mouth and kneaded the other one in a leisurely fashion, feeling her body pucker and writhe from the sensations and the taste of her skin turned tangy from my work. She arched against me and her fingers dug softly into the skin of my back as I ran one hand down from her buttocks outside her smooth, shapely thigh then tickled a light touch along the inside of it, causing her to instinctively grip my hips. My body was urgently reminding me that it, too had not known the joys of pleasure in far too long a time for its comfort and would gladly dispense with the opening act, but I wasn't a neanderthal, and my onee-san had always told me that a mark of both a fire and a man was not how fast and hot it burned but whether it could make it through the night.

She gasped a pleasured moan and pressed harder against me, causeing my skin to jump electrically, as I worked a thumb along the crease of the join between her thigh and her torso bringing my other hand down from her breast to press at the crease at the back of her knees while my tongue made sure the recently vacated breast didn't get lonely. Her skin was very soft, and well taken care of. I pressed my face into her chest, scraping my teeth lightly along a puckered nipple, eliciting another moan that increased in pitch and fervor as I took it fully into my mouth again. I reached a hand between us to unfasten the mortal-style pants and pushed them off with a quick arch of my hips that pushed full-body up against her soft feminine curves. I pulled her down with me so she was stretched out supine on my chest, breasts a soft cushion against my own muscles. I couldn't restrain a groan of pleasure of my own when I rubbed her bodily against me. My eyes closed in delighted bliss at the feel of her soft, naked skin against mine, her thighs pressed tight to my hips, the softly firm flesh of her stomach was stroking over my abs. I throbbed with anticipatory contentment stoking and kneading over her back and buttocks to keep her body moving against mine. She instinctively began to writhe in rhythm arching and moaning against me, her thighs squeezing with eagre pressure, her hands working over whatever part of me she could reach.

I rolled us to one side so that she was on her back and pushed her up a little so that my face was buried in the valley between breasts and slowly began to lick and nibble my way southward, enjoying the feeling of her soft flesh beneath my lips and the steady chorus of stifled moans and soft cries from my partner. There was a particularly emphatic noise that came when I poked my tongue inside her belly button and I stayed there to play for a moment as my hands kept working down over her hips. I stroked her inner thighs with the callus-roughened pads of my thumbs and she shuddered slightly and her knees clenched hard. She was a responsive little thing, wasn't she? I pressed my thumbs harder along the insides of her thighs while my teeth scraped along the smooth plains of her chest and stomach and down to her hips. Working her body to a feverish hotness, I could tell from the moist jungle-like scent coming off from her skin that she was ready. With what for her must have been aching slowness, I pressed my fingers up into the folds of skin at the join of her legs and gave a soft shallow stroke that caught the tip of her clitoris, just so. She whimpered in suppressed passion and tried to arch her hips up into me. She was slick and waiting for me so I pushed up further into her to be met with a delighted moan while her knees gripped me and her inner walls tried to clamp down around fingers to keep them there. I toyed a bit, pressing around her insides and working the moist delicate flesh with the pads of my fingers and thumbs. The noises she made were music to me.

Due to the powers my zanpaktou granted me with regards to tracking, my sense of smell and my sense of taste were both heightened. As much as I enjoyed the touch that came with love-play, the taste was ten times more erotic for me. The moment I got that first taste of passion, when she was waiting and eager, that was where I found my true delight. I pulled her arms up and fastened them behind her knees and held them there while I pushed her wide open, running my tongue first up one smooth inner thigh and then the other. Her body was worked to such a hot fevered pitch she couldn't quite decide wither to pant or moan or whimper so she did all three. Eagerly, I buried my tongue inside her, tasting her sweet salty essence as I closed my eyes to savor it. No wine or sake could ever be quite so intoxicating as this. I could smell and taste and almost feel the desire roiling out from within her, it was headier than aged merlot, sweeter than sangria. I suckled and tasted the delicious cologne of need, almost entirely oblivious to the screams above me. The drink only intensified as her body tensed and roiled around my tongue. If this was what Hollows tasted when they consumed a soul, no wonder they were always hungry.

I played for a while, bringing her to the brink of delirium only to pause and wait for her body to cool for a moment then reawakening the sensations once again to intensify the flavor on my palliate as she begged me to put an end to the pleasure so intense it was kin to agony. As deliciously pleasant as this was for both of us, there was a satisfaction yet denied and the timbre of her screams had turned an ache into an imperative. I was painfully ready to end it.

I laid her out and positioned myself, sinking into her tight warmth with a groan of both desire and relief. It had been far too long for me. My partner was already shivering from the last near-miss I had given her to wake her up, so the feel of me slipping inside of her, pushing along at her walls, made her clench in delight. I entered slowly, drawing the moment out while she writhed under me in helpless pleasure. My hands still worked along her skin, skimming, kneading, scratching to emphasize my movements inside of her. I stayed seated inside of her, squeezed in her warm heat while she panted helplessly an wriggled around me. Oh, but it was good.

"Keep that up," I groaned. "An' I ain't gonna last to the end."

She ran a nail lightly up my back, causing me to do a full-body twitch that had me grunting in further pleasure as the twitch caused her to squeeze around me slightly. I hovered over her, weight suspended mostly on my arms as my hips moved with the direct precision of a fighter whose life depended on having excellent muscle control. We moved push-pull together as our bodies made and unmade each other in Nature's timeless dance. The delirious pressure built quickly within me thrust upon thrust and I pulled out a little more quickly than I had intended to and pushed in with a bit more emphasis as my control started to unravel around me. Lin'ata's eyes closed and her whole body tightened in a spasm. She screamed, long and hard, while her warmth embraced me, sending me spinning hard into my own jubilation. The world pinpointed white for a long moment as the pleasure rocked over me and I lost myself, bursting into chaos. It was a long, glowing moment until breaths were caught and sweat-slicked, sated bodies were pulled into their separate skins. She tried to sit up to leave and I yanked her back down onto me, slightly offended.

"Any woman who shares my body, shares my bed 'til dawn," I all but growled at her. "It get's cold in the morning."

That, and there was no chance of further pleasure during the night, nor of possibly being fed by a woman's willing hands, not to mention the mild insult of a woman slinking off like I was a shameful secret. A woman should be proud to be well-treated by me. I wasn't claiming to be the gift of the Heaven's to women everywhere, but it was an undeniable fact that sharing my bed was not a one-sided pleasure, to return my consideration for her pleasure by treating me like some kind of disposable commodity was just rude.

"I had not wanted to impose," she sighed with sleepy contentment as she lounged against me, luxuriating as much as I was in the contentment of skin on skin.

"Do you think I will conceive a child of this?" she said, looking at me hopefully.

"If not this once, we'll have plenty of other times tonight," I promised her. "One of them's bound ta take."

It pleased me in a very animalistic, cave man sort of way to hear a woman talk about wanting ta have my babies so badly, but another part of it was bothered by the fact that I was siring children I wouldn't be around to see. It went against the grain of my honor.

"You, ah, you gonna be raisin' this kid all by yerself?" I demanded of her.

"Heaven's no," she said merrily. "The whole village raises the children communally. That's the way it has always been in the history of our race. Viable conceptions are rare so every child is precious and treasured. That's the way it was for me and for my mother, and my mother's mother. It's a good life."

"Don't they ever get curious about their father?" I asked, feeling unexpectedly lonely with the thought.

"A bit. It's natural that they would, what short tales of the men who sire children there are will be kept within the village memory to be told and retold to feed the child's hunger," she explained to me. "It is not a bad way of life. Your daughter will be well loved, and well cared for, and if she breeds your stock true, then she will be strong and brave, perhaps even enough to knock Ka'hayla off that self-congratulatory little pillar of hers."

I took it that Ka'hayla was the name of the particularly arrogant little amazon queen. It seemed that knocking reining social rulers off their self-congratulatory pillars was going to become a family business. I smiled at the thought.

"Well then, tell my daughter this piece of advice for me when the time comes. Never start a fight... but always finish it."

Lin'ata smiled up at me and nodded her head affirming that she would. The rest of the night passed quickly, and very very pleasantly. I did get fed, several times in fact, between bouts of lovemaking. If she didn't get the little red-haired spawn of Renji she so desperately wanted out of this, it wouldn't be from lack of trying. Morning found me nestled comfortably in bed with my head pillowed on her breasts. I stretched as Lin'ata reluctantly vacated my bed to dress and go back to her regular duties for the day, I thought about possibly accompanying her but decided against it on the grounds that it would be distracting. I didn't want to be responsile for no little bunny-children falling off a tree limb because thier caretaker kept imagining the two of us alone together. I went down the trunk of my tree to bathe in the pool again, washing the night's excecions away then took to the tree-tops again to go find a quiet place to practice with Zabimaru. After a full afternoon's worth of working with keeping the power in my meridians, steady and constant and controlled while we moved through the sword movements, I went back for the evening meal.

On my way back I was not surprised to feel the soft-furred form of a cat suddenly pounce on my head and insert her needle-like teeth into my shoulder along with her claws.

"Ow! Owowowow!" I yelped in both surprise and pain so that I nearly missed the branch I was aiming for.

"Yoruichi, what the hell's wrong with you?" I demanded in pain and offended dignity.

"So, I heard you had quite the fun time last night," she said conversationally.

"Yeah, what of it?" I asked.

"I thought you weren't a no-strings-attached kind of guy," she replied arching her back in a way that should not have been able to look sexy on a furred feline, but still did.

"There were extenuating circumstances, and how'd you hear about it so fast?"

The cat gave me a golden-eyed glare and washed her paw with immense dignity.

"In a village of fifty people, word gets around quickly. If Lin'ata were glowing any brighter you'd have to put a lampshade on her."

I didn't bother to hide my pleased look at that. It was nice to be appreciated.

"Not to mention, I have the ears of a cat," Yoruichi added.

My face flushed hotly without my meaning it to.

"You can't act like the injured party and pretend you didn't know exactly what was up," I countered, remembering well the smirk. "I know you well enough, cat-lady, to know that you at least had some money riding on something happening."

"Don't be silly, I never even try to gamble on the vagaries of the heart," she said with mock offense. I scoffed.

"Vagaries of the heart, tch! You know that a healthy body, especially a mortal one with all it's biological imperatives, is gonna act exactly the way it's supposed to!"

I paused to reconsider

"Unless o' course yer, Captain Kuchiki..."

The man, to knowledge public or private, hadn't been laid in long enough to declare his privates legally dead two lifetimes ago!

"He probably wouldn't be half so uptight if he'd just get laid like a normal human being every once in a while," I muttered to myself.

Yoruichi, with her kitty hearing, caught the observation and snickered at it. She made a wry noise of agreement with that one and added

"You know, we could totally just drop this whole quest thing, kidnap his wife and leave her tied up naked in his futon. One good long look at him and I'll bet any protests from her end would quickly dry up."

She leaned forward and whispered in a conspiratorial tone

"She's been a single mother to a six year old and hasn't had a man in four long mortal years. And you know mortals measure time differently than us."

Did I ever, a few weeks as a mortal and I about wore miss bunny girl out with that suddenly insatiable biological drive to perpetuate the species!

"She wants a man she can count on, he misses his wife..." she continued. "We couldn't go wrong by bringing these two lonely, hungry souls together. The Kuchiki Clan would probably even throw a banquet in our honor for finally at last getting their precious and only Head of the Clan to even look at a woman again."

"I agree with you in point on that Missy, but I'm worried about the practice," I replied. "She's mortal. And she's got a kid. If she were on her own I'd say yeah, whack her, take her home to him and have done with it, but her boy ain't gonna have no-one ta look after 'im if his mama's dies, and I've seen th' foster care system that orphans get stuck with. It wouldn't be pretty for him an' that means we've no right to interfere."

"Both empathic and responsible, Renji, I'm impressed," Yoruichi replied sounding halfway sincere for a change.

"But that doesn't tell me why you tapped the bunny tail and left the kitty high and dry," she growled at me in a very feminine sort of fury.

"Because the poor bunny girl wants a baby and is pleased to have me and what I can give to her. The kitty is just curious, and besides that... the kitty also comes with a likeable but thoroughly scary as hell little evil genius attached. If he ever found out I'd been fooling around with his woman I hate to contemplate the things he'd do to my gigai before tricking me into climbing in it."

"Awww, he doesn't need to know," Yoruichi said, not bothering to hide the fact that she had an "arrangement" with that Urahara.

"I'd know. And somehow, he'd have it out of me," I replied easily.

"Are you going to be sleeping with Lin'ata for the rest of our stay? If so, you've got two more nights of going at it like... well, like rabbits, before Isana is finished with her training. I wouldn't let her catch wind of your conquests if I were you, she'd likely to react badly to it."

"Thanks for the tip and I don't think that's any of your business," I told her.

"For what it's worth," she said with another rare note of seriousness in her voice. "Even though I'm in love with him, I can't help but think those are two lucky ladies, one to share your body and the other to hold your heart."

But then she ruined it with

"Even if you're not very bright."

"Uh, thanks. I think," I said as we parted ways.

It was a nice little vacation for the next two days. I spent my days at a leisurely (for me anyway) practice with Zabimaru, and my nights were filled with the joys of the flesh. Lin'ata was a sweet girl, she had two friends of hers that had also long wanted children and had never gotten the opportunity of getting past the possessively jealous amazon queens, and she gave up her chance at another two nights with me to request that I would accept them into my bed and hopefully give them the children they also desperately wanted. How could I turn that down?

I did worry a bit about my future offspring though. It was a rukongai tradition that my onee-san had hammered into my head at a young age; that a man of quality did not leave any child he sired without a legacy, or at least some way for the kid to make their way in the world. On the third day, before Isana rejoined us from her training session, the Matriarch sat down beside me at lunch with the basket of mancer eggs that I had loaned to her earlier on and almost forgotten about, and told me about each of them and the solution to my dilemma over what legacy i could leave to my unborn girls occurred to me.

"You're matriarch over the whole village, right?" I asked.

When she nodded I said

"Well, ya gotta know that I've been well... canoodling with some o' yer girls. They understand that I can't stay an' I been real good to 'em," I hastened to assure her. "But where I'm from its a dishonor to a man o' quality not ta leave somethin' behind fer his kids when he gets a woman with his child. In Rukongai, if a man acknowledges his get, he'll come back when they're to go off on their own an' he'll give 'em a weapon, or a tool to help them survive with. Well, since yer th' Matriarch I'd appreciate it if you'd do sumthin' fer me. I'd like it if you'd keep three o' these mancer eggs fer when any o' my little girls grows up, and give it to her as her first mancer."

"these eggs are worth-" she tried to protest.

"I don't care about how much they're worth, it's worth it ta me ta know that any kid o' mine has a good life, right an' proper, if I can't be there ta take care of 'em," I said.

I tried to pretend I didn't notice the way my street accent thickened when I got distressed.

"I will do as you ask, and your name will be honored in our village," matriarch assured me. "Travel well, Mortal Soul Reaper."

"Thanks, you too," I said, uncertain of what else to say.

I was gonna miss my girls, Lin'ata, Shi'neesa and To'lori. I bid them each a fond farewell and asked that they would take especial care of my little girls since I would not be able to be there to do it for them. I'd heard that there were types of men out there who could father a child and not feel anything about it, but I'd always known I'd never be one of them. I was genuinely sad and upset over the fact that there would be (possibly) three young Mi'kote girls with my bright red hair who would never know a father who loved taiyaki and sang "Tiny Dancer" abysmally well, and that I would not be there to change their diapers and give them their baths and offer them sensible advice about how and when is a good time to beat the crap out of someone.

I met up with Isana and Yoruichi waiting for me at the Gate to that world, all packed, saddled and ready to go. I shrugged off slightly sad, wistful thoughts of a life that simply could not be and put my game face on. It was time to get back to my work.

* * *

**Wow. I gotta say... wow. This chapter didn't even exist when i woke up this morning except as a few ideas and scenes that i sort of wished I'd written. The I come back from breakfast and the muse tacked me around the knees and dragged me to my computer. This is the result of about six hours (with adequate rests) of straight writing then editing and polishing. A lot of it read exactly as I planned, but there were a few surprises, and a couple of observations (Byakuya Kuchiki) that I'd had kicking around in my head and never thought I'd have the temerity to put down. I don't normally do chapters of over eight thousand words simply because of the audience I write for, most have limited time or borrowed computers and would like to be able to reach the end of it before they get kicked off. But in this case it was unavoidable. And I have to say, my very first posted lemon (sadly not a renru) was due almost entirely to the remarks of BloodyRoses, tellie and airenya. I had actually originally intended the scene exactly the way it was written here for the previous chapter but I thought "nah, they'd never go for it, it'd ruin the story" but the reveiws made me reconsider and put it in, and what do you know it works! I hope you all enjoyed the work and we able to read it without getting kicked off. the next chapter picks up right in the middle of things. We're on our way towards the home stretch kids, but don;t worry, whenever this one is done, I have your next epic all lined up for you. I still need a title for it though. Any way, please reveiw and let me know what you think. As I said this is my first posted lemon and so I'm really nervous about it.**


	61. Dinner Is Served

"Raikou Enjin!" I yelled, surrounding some of the shrieking horde rushing hot on our trail with a ring of lightning kissed orbs of doom. A series of blasts followed the in-gathering of the orbs, but that only cleared out a small section of them. Yoruichi flickered in and out among the throng, taking out the little buggers one by one, but there were so many of the things and they moved so _quickly_.

"I'm gonna fall off!" Isana yelled desperately over to me from her perch on top of Tanner's back.

She clung desperately to the saddle with both hands, crouched low over it's neck, her hair damp with sweat and coming down in messy strands from its usual neat style. The not-horse underneath her was moving faster than I had seen it move since trying to outrun the avalanche. Its powerful hind legs sprung it up into the air to dodge the attempts of the little army of feral Realm Guardian's following us. They looked kinda shriveled little like pygmies with spears, they wore tribal-looking beads and feathers with only a loincloth wrapped around their middles, but they moved like something that very much was _not _human. Their limbs were long and thin, and their bodies wiry, their tiny little heads were actually shrunken (and shriveled looking) from the rest of their tiny forms. They leaped from tree to tree, scrambling down trunks like squirrels, swinging from vines like monkeys.

:_Speaking of swinging from vines_...: I thought glancing quickly over my shoulder to see three of the little demons swinging in mid-air on a vine aimed straight at Isana perched on Tanners's back.

:_Got 'em_!:

But there were plenty more where those came from. I flicked out Zabimaru's blade to catch another of the little pygmy critters before it could land on Tanner's back and pull her off it. And my afternoon had been going so _well _too.

Things on this world had been peaceful enough when we'd first gotten there, I'd figured it for another abandoned one... until Miss Isana got curious about one of the ruins nearby. One of the _booby-trapped_ ruins, as it turned out. And she boobied right into it. Where there had once been nothing but quiet jungle and peaceful stone there emerged a horde of shreiking, shriveled-looking pygmies with shrunken heads weilding crude (but effective) little spears, all commin' at us with intent to harm. They were easily killed, one swipe and they were dust, but there were so many of them attacking us all at once we were forced into a strategic retreat, or rather, an advance. Because there was no-way we were going back, and the only way out was through, forward we went. And they chased after us.

"I think there are more of them than there were before!" Isana called.

I flashed out of the way and my blade licked out, almost by instinct, to knock a spear from the air before it could touch Miss Isana. I flashed from one point to the next, trying my damnedest to guard Isana on all sides as the not-horse beneath her rode hell for leather towards the gate. I'd managed to keep any of the attacks from getting through so far, but I didn't know how long I could keep it up.

"Raikou Enjin!" I yelled, launching another series of orbs at the stampede of pygmies trying to close in behind us.

"Ahh!" Isana yelled in sudden pain, I glanced over to note a new dent in her armor. There wasn't a hole and she looked more frightened than in pain so I'd just tell her 'I told you so' avout the need ofr her to wear her armor later.

I fired off three more Denshou Hou's in rapid succession, adrenaline pumping through me and making the back of my mouth taste sickly sweet. Even through the adrenaline I could feel the attacks I was firing off one after the other take its toll. I had only opened one chakra when I went to fight because it was easier to manage a small amount of power than a large amount, but it looked like I might have to open up another before long.

"We're almost there!" Isana called in relief. "I can see the Gate up ahead!"

I looked at the stone paved pathway overgrown with roots and other vegetation that Tanner was pounding his way down and-

"Nooo!" Isana squealed.

Her voice sounded as frustrated as I felt. The pathway was blocked up ahead by three large stone statues. They were each the size of an average-sized Hollow, not a menos but the usual run-of-the-mill slugger to come crawling out of the dark of a human soul.

"Shakahou!" Yoruichi called from behind and to the right of me, on the other side of Tanner. The blast of blue-white power was on par with anything I'd ever seen my boss produce to shut an enemy up. I hoped to see at least one of the stone giants go down from an attack like that but...

Didn't even scratch it.

"Yoruichi, get on Tanner's back with Isana, you're going through," I said. "I'll see ya on the flip side."

"Understood," she acknowledged.

I saw her spring onto the two-legged beast's back as lightly as any ancient warrior maiden out of a movie, wrap an arm around Isana's middle, crouch down and urge the beast to even greater speed. In a quick maneuver, Yoruichi pulled the draconian beast to pivot on one side, spring into the air, lash with its claws, backpedal and spring forward, crushing a small knot of pygmies under its feet, then spring in a powerful leap through the air to dodge around the first of the statues even as I gathered my own power in and shoved it down to the tip of my blade.

"Denshou Hou!"

I was using the attack more as a distraction than because I expected that it would do some damage. While Yoruichi made for the Gate with all the single-mindedness of a quarterback running for the goal in American football, I flashed in, Pygmies in a moving carpet covering the forest behind me, and struck at one of the pillar-like legs of the stone statue. With a sharp ring, Zabimaru sliced through the stone and the huge statue guardian fell over... almost on top of me. The other two concentrated their attention on me , one swinging with his stone axe-scythe and the other pounding at the ground where I had been before I'd flashed out of the way to dodge the axe-scythe's swing. While they were focused on me, Yoruichi made it into the clear and galloped at top speed to the gate, activating it on the fly. They took two of the little pygmies that had managed to latch onto the tail of Tanner before the beast gave one last bounding leap and flew through the swirling vortex of energy and into the next Realm.

A small ocean of snarling, thrashing, biting clawing shriveled little brownish-colored men descended on me like a pack of chihuahua's. This in addition to stone giant One and Two's hollow-like attacks. The third one was still thrashing around, trying to get enough leverage to continue fighting. I blurred in before he could become a greater threat and cut his left arm off at the shoulder, spun and lopped off his right. It's snout face lunged at me where I hung in midair at the end of my flash-leap and snapped at me. I jerked back by reflex and felt the soft whoosh of displaced air as the jaw closed not even an inch away. Zabimaru flickered out and severed the neck. The big stone whatever it was disintegrated into dust. Problem solved. I leaped up at the next nearest stone golem, kinda missing Snaketail a little, because if I'd had him right then the golem would not have had all of its limbs still attached. I dimly heard Babs give a small insulted grumble from the back of my mind. I also heard him prompt me to cut loose a little more power and he'd take 'em. It was a little hard to do when I had a hundred three-foot-tall little men clawing and biting at me, trying to drag me off balance. The shrieking horde had caught up to me and they were adding their own fierce little attacks in, making it a bit more of a challenge to take down the big guys.

"Roar!" I yelled, fed up with the small fry and needing a little space.

Snakey made a jubilant shout and sprang out as I whirled out my chain-blade in a circle around me, reaping a hundred of the little buggers in a wide radius just so I could get a little breathing room. Another whirl around got most of the little critters that had launched themselves up into the air to get at me. I sent it, practically singing, at the nearest stone golem thing. Got its arm on the first hit and swung it down and around to slice it off at the knees, it toppled to the side and twitched around for a while. The circle of peace didn't last for very long at all, ten seconds (just long enough to nail the golem) and they were descending on me in a crashing wave of ferocity. I leaped up into the air and kipped into an axle spin, spiraling the snaketail in on me to renew its recoil, I shot it out in mid air to impale the last giant still standing. The sharp flat head of the Zabimarus snaketail form embedded itself in the chest of the golem and I swung my end in a crescent to one side, reminiscent of a kid playing jumprope. Crouched in a ball, my feet landed, perfectly balanced, on the flats of the blade and I rode down the chain, my body automatically adjusting for the swing as the rest of him curled around me like a wave around a surfer.

"Shakahou!" I shouted, releasing a blast of reiatsu at a bunch of pygmies that had leaped up into the air after at me and dusted them.

The wind pulled the chain-blade to the left and I adjusted my balance on the way down, my momentum sending me barreling toward the stone giant with a speed that made my eyes blur with tears from the wind. I pulled the slack of the chain-blade behind me out and around as I leaped off it up into the air at the end and pulled Zabimaru into blade-rest, launching myself bodily at the target and plunging my zanpaktou all the way through it. As the golem crashed to the ground behind me, I swung Zabimaru out and around as far as he would go, dusting an entire cloud of little dried up, shrunken-headed little pygmy-ferals. I panted to catch my breath a little as things finally quieted down for a moment. But I was literally not out of the woods yet.

That was when I heard it, over the rumble of stone and the cries of the few remaining little pygmies that had survived Zabimaru's reaping... the sound of drums. Not a rat-a-tat-tat, but rather more like hundreds of those little skin-drums being beaten on, in a fast tribal-sounding rhythm. It sounded ominous. Scenes from old movies I'd seen where the intrepid jungle explorer or sailor runs afoul of cannibals, or tribes who needed to sacrifice the strange men to appease their gods, briefly surfaced in my mind. The drum beats got louder, accompanied by the shrill wordless shouts of the shrunken-headed feral pygmies.

:_That can't be good_,: I mused to myself.

I brought Zabimaru back in and pulled him up before me, a pleased smile stretching across my face. I could feel snakey just itchin' ta get at 'em.

::**You've had enough fun, my turn**!:: Babs prompted from the back of my mind.

I could sense that he was a little put out by the fact that I'd gone back to Snakey for the fight when I'd promised to fight with him for the next while, but it had been a tactically sound decision on my part. Snakey was a good form for wiping out a lot of enemies on all sides at close range. But a deal was a deal, I'd never master this form if I didn't use it.

"Howl!" I commanded.

Snakey went back with a disappointed grumble and Babs pushed forward. My sword Shikied into Zabimaru's diamond-headed howl-form.

From out of the foliage of the dense wood-cover overgrowing all the ruins around me, advanced a miniature army of shrunken, little men. Phalanx after phalanx of them stomped their way from out of the trees, rough, stone-headed spears strapped to their backs and drums pounding out a rhythm. War cries punctuated their display of numbers.

If anything my smile got even wider.

:_Perfect_.:

Before they could all decide to rush at me, I pulled Zabimaru before me and closed my eyes, concentrating. Time to push the limits of what I'd managed so far. I threw open two sluice gates at once, my second and third Chakra's practically burst wide, and my reiatsu came rushing out like a river in flood. A powerful wind generated by the call of my power sprang into being and gyrated around me, howling in my ears and grabbing at my clothes. I almost couldn't breathe from the uncomfortably tight feeling that ensued when I gingerly unlocked and very carefully started to slide open my fourth chakra, letting its power join the energy already pouring through me from the first three. This was the first time I'd done it without having a great deal of power already drained off in battle. My body felt uncomfortably bloated, like I was a balloon about ready to burst. I quickly pushed it into a channel (barely controlled, but I managed it) feeding it straight down into the tang of my blade which lit up with a misty white fire, sparks of lightning shooting off from the edges. The glow grew to blinding proportions as I slowly spread the gate sealing away the chakra wider, unleashing more power. A halo of misty fire surrounded the blade, extending up into the air for a ways. The army was almost advanced upon me, the drums a rhythm pounding into my from the air and up through the soles of my feet. They wanted _me _to know fear, but I was about to teach it to _them_.

I flared the power out from the double-edges of my blade, feeding it into the whirlwind of spirit energy already spiraling around me, saturating the air with power. It was thick and heavy and hard to control, but I managed to keep it centered in a neat spire, the wind screaming about my body and whipping my hair and clothes around me.

"Hikari Senpuu Higyou!" I yelled, sending the spiraling tempest out into the pygmy army advancing on me. It ate its way through the crowd, picking up the pygmy army like they were so many leaves, carrying them along swirling helplessly in the wind. The foot soldiers on the flanks tried to turn and escape, but the maelstrom sucked them up into it too, an unstoppable juggernaut. While this was happening I gathered a massive flare of reiatsu at Zabimaru's tip, a halo of white fire gathered in at its point. With a final shout, I unleashed the orb of power to fly like a comet to the top of the spout, hovering over the eye while the rest of the power gathered in, and with one last flare, a pillar of light so brilliant that I couldn't see flashed down to the ground. I felt the earth tremor in the soles of my feet when the lightning-pillar struck the earth. I crouched behind Zabimaru to wait out the remaining shockwave.

The air cleared as I panted for breath. The pygmy army was completely gone. Where there had been hundreds, perhaps thousands, of tiny little shrunken-headed men, there was not nothing but a crater and dust.

:_That last one might take a while to set up_,: I thought to myself, grinning like a fool. :_But it's powerful enough to **clean up** with_.:

"Well well well," The dry and amused voice of Yoruichi seemed to echo a bit in the suddenly still air. "It seems that you've become quite a bit stronger than you were before Renji. I wonder how much its worth to you for me to keep _this _one a secret. Planning on surprising your Captain with it the next time you two go a round were we?"

Was it that obvious?

"My control still ain't that great and my time could use some work," I critiqued, as a way of avoiding the subject.

"I suspect that's because you lack refined control over your reiatsu, but that will come in time if you keep up your practices. Does Zabimaru have two different bankai's as well?"

"Yeah," I admitted, not seeing any reason why I shouldn't answer her since I'd already trusted her this far. "But I haven't come nearly far enough with this form to achieve it. Babs and I are still kinda gettin' acquainted."

I looked around, not seeing my charge anywhere.

"Where's Miss Isana?" I asked Yoruichi.

"There's nothing on the next world over but purple sand and rock," Yoruichi said with a shrug. "So I thought I'd come back here to rescue you from your valiant and noble demise, but it turns out that you didn't need my help."

"Thanks anyway," I said with a genuine smile over at her. I was glad I wasn't alone. "Let's get back to the woman before she finds something _else _to get her inta trouble."

"Wait a moment Renji," Yoruichi said, holding me fast by the elbow. "You know who Isana is... really."

I nodded.

"Yeah."

"So then, if you know that she's Byakuya's beloved wife, and Rukia's long-lost sister, why are you letting her expose herself to danger by trekking across the Divine Realms with you? You have to know that if your boss ever found out about it he'd Have Words with you, and I doubt any of them would be pleasant."

I pointed to the collar.

"It's not like she gave me a lot of choice," I said.

"You're powerful enough now, you could probably fight it, or get one of the old gods to take it off for you," Yoruichi pointed out.

I was quiet for a long moment, thinking about it. Yeah, the collar annoyed the hell out of me most days, but when I'd been inside the belly of the beast, it had been the thing that showed me the way out. And she was the one with the binding spell.

I shrugged.

"We've come this far, and her kid can't be too much farther away," I said. "Why not let her come all the way with us? Besides, if we're walking into the Shadow's nest, I'd kinda like to have a way to beat them with me. She is the one with the binding spell after all."

Yoruichi looked at me for a long moment with that exasperated look that women, sometimes even Momo a time or two, gave me when it seemed I was completely missing the point.

"I'm going to come right out and say it since you're so dense you probably won't notice it on your own," Yoruichi said in an impatient tone.

"What?" I asked blankly. "Notice what?"

"I rest my case," she said dryly to no-one in particular. "Renji, the two of you have been on quite an adventure together, over the course of which I'm sure you've risked your life to save her countless times."

I nodded, not quite seeing the point, but that much had been true. I'd promised to keep her safe after all, and I was a man of my word. I had my reputation to think of.

"You protect her from monsters, win tournaments for her-"

"That's not true, I was just wanting a good fight," I corrected. "And protecting her is part of my geas, not to mention, what kinda man would I be if I didn't? It's got nuthin' ta do with her as a person. I'd do the same for anyone else."

"You treat her well, or at least, you're not rude to her. She says you've carried her piggy back for the first part of your journey-"

"She can't flash-step on her own!" I protested, beginning to see where she might be going with this.

"You're helping her rescue her son, regardless of whether you're doing it for your own reasons. You eat her tasteless cooking without a word of complaint-"

"I've eaten worse," I said.

"From what I gather she's all alone in the world except for her son, abandoned by a worthless family, and here you come in her hour of need, rescue her from some mortal world thugs, and help her when no-one else can or will. Do you see where I'm going with this?"

I did see. I was in trouble.

"Add to that, the fact that you're not unattractive..."

"Um, thanks?" I said in reply to the very dubious tone in her voice that all but said 'there's just no accounting for taste'.

"Tall, broad, strong and powerful," she continued. "And you show up in her life like a knight in shining armor when there's no-one else for her to count on..."

Make that deep trouble.

"And she heals you up when you get hurt so you also rely on her a little. Any one of these separately would be grounds for a woman to develop feelings for you, all of them together is a sure bet."

I felt my eyes widen and the blood drain from my face in a panic. This was not good.

"You should see the look on your face," Yoruichi chuckled.

"Oh crap... he's gonna kill me. And it won't even be over something like the fact I wanna challenge him over Rukia. He's gonna kill me fer sumthin' stupid I can't do anything about!"

Yoruichi only laughed harder. if I hadn't been so panicked I'd have picked a fight over it.

"Crap! What should I do about it?" I muttered. "There's gotta be some way ta put her off..."

"Poor man, you got the wrong sister to fall in love with you," Yoruichi teased, laughing even harder.

"Shut up Yoruichi, it ain't funny!" I growled, irritated.

"Yes it is," she assured me, still laughing.

"No it ain't!" I insisted.

She just seemed to find this funnier than before, if her laughing even harder was any indication. Well, at least my discomfort had made somebody's day.

"C'mon," I grumbled. "If we're done here, let's just go."

* * *

**If it seems like this chapter just plunged you all into action without warning there's a reason for it. Back when i was writing the original, I'd gotten stuck at this one point where it didn't seem like I had anything more to say. I wanted to write, but there was nothing there when I sat down. Finally, the bug bit me and I just started up a new scene figuring I'd go back and fix whatever was wrong with it later. The rest of the story started to flow out naturally after I'd gotten started, the fixing thing was what you saw in the previous two chapters. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the update and thank you all for the really, truly wonderful feedback for the last chapter, whew... I was nervous that everyone would hate it and cry OOC or something, I'm glad you all felt that it meshed in well enough. So this chapter pretty much marks the end of mid-game, now we start winding up to endgame; secrets and plots revealed and all that good stuff. Look forward to it please!**


	62. A Time to Rest

Yoruichi and I gated to where she had left the mortal woman with her not-horse steed-thing Tanner, cooling her heels on a world made (from what I could see) of purple sand, with mesa's of rock jutting up against the pinkish colored sky that seemed to be painted by the dust rising up in strange glowing column-like vents at odd intervals. Weird place.

"Renji, you're okay!" she said, sounding relieved. I looked over at her, newly conscious of what Yoruichi had told me, and gruffly replied.

"O' course I am, why wouldn't I be?"

"You were being attacked by a horde of little shrunken-head things like out of a movie," Isana replied smartly. "I figured that _that _many of them would bring you down. I guess you really are strong."

"Not as strong as some," I said hastily. "My Captain's a lot stronger than me. If you want to see someone clear a battlefield, watch _him _step onto one!"

Isana did not look impressed by that. I didn't want to press the issue, partly because I didn't want to have to sing the praises of a guy I hoped to one day defeat. Without another word, I took up Tanner's reigns as Yoruichi changed forms back into a cat and hopped up onto the saddle-pad for a ride again.

Even through it looked sorta like a desert (a weird one, but that was the thing it most closely resembled) the Realm wasn't hot, so we made good time through it at a flat run. The ferals from the last world had been interesting and I'd gotten a chance to try out my really strong attack from Zabimaru, not something I got to spend a whole lot of time using. The next Gate took us to another Realm where the stench of Shadow was so thick I nearly passed out. I called a halt immediately outside the Gate platform and circled our three person war-band in for a powow.

"Shadows," I reported to my team. "A lot of them. Either that, or there are ones that are just more powerful than the ones weve encountered so far," I said shortly, still trying to recover a bit from the shock of all that weird spiritual energy overpowering my senses.

"Do the Shadows even _have _a ranking system?" Yoruichi wondered aloud.

"I'd have ta go with yes on this one," I said. "The Arrancars in Hueco Mundo have one, so do the Soul Reapers, and the Nature Spirits of the Great Elemental Courts definitely have one. Shadows are faded deities like the ones from the Courts so I imagine that there are are ones that are more and less powerful among them."

"Then how powerful are the ones we've seen so far?" Isana asked worriedly.

"We have no way of knowing until we encounter more of them," I said with a shrug.

So far I'd only fought two; the one that turned me mortal, and the one from the ring that made the Shadowbeast.

"That's what I was afraid you'd say," she muttered.

"From what I can scent, there's a whole bunch of different Shadow scents coming from different directions in this Realm and converging on one Gate," I said, pointing ahead of us.

"Whatever is beyond that Gate must be what they're aiming at," Yoruichi hypothesized. "Otherwise they'd all be heading in different directions."

"Ya think that it might be their lair?" i asked hopefully.

"It's possible, we won't know for sure until we scout it out though."

I nodded, then frowned. It had been a long day from the beginning and we were nearing the end of it. I looked over at Isana, and, despite the fact she looked determined to struggle on, I could tell she was already weary. Aside of the massive pygmy attack this morning, we'd also hit a few more worlds with unfreindlies in 'em and I had gotten two more chances to try out my master attack, as well as all the Denshou Hou's and Raikou Enjin's I'd fired off in the course of all the _other _battles. In short, the day had been a wearying one for me too. If I was going to have to face down another Shadow, let along a Shodowbeast or possibly _more _than one of them, I needed to be at the top of my game. Like an Arrancar, this was not the sort of enemy you could face at fifty percent. It ticked me off, but there it was. I was out in the feild with no back up, except Yoruichi, and a (mostly) non-combatant to protect. I shared a single long, speaking look with Yoruichi, who seemed to be able to read my thoughts, for she nodded and started heading back the way we came.

"What are we waiting for then, let's get going so we can get my son back!" Isana said eagerly.

I kept my grip on Tanner's reigns and stood still.

"We're going to find a safer place and build camp so we can rest," I said firmly.

Isana stared at me, almost uncomprehendingly.

"But... but we're so _close_! My son could be on the other side of that Gate! We cant' stop now!"

"We have to," I said implacably. "You're not rested, and neither am I. If we have to face a really tough opponent, or even worse, a whole _lot _of tough enemies, then I need to be at the top of my game and so do you. That means adequate rest beforehand and fuel enough to see me through. I don't have either right now, and if I try to face down any more than one Shadow in my current position then I'm toast and so are you. I know yer worried about yer kid, and I don't blame you, but you need to-"

"I need to get through that Gate and get him out of there!" Isana snapped cutting me off and trying to turn the not-horse back. I held firm and didn't let go.

"I know this is hard for you," i said, trying to go for a soothing tone. "But-"

"But nothing! I'm not going to quit when I'm so close."

"Who said anything about quitting," I snapped, nettled. "We're just going to rest. I'm not about to go traipsing into their lair with no-back up but Yoruichi here, and carrying around a mortal woman, without bein' rested enough to take on whatever the hell it is that waits on the other side, so get over it. I'd love to be able to keep going on too, but this damn mortal body's got limits and I need to be careful with them or I might find myself back on the Wheel of Rebirth. Yer the only one that's gonna rescue yer son, so if we fall due to carelessness, then who else is there? You can't just think of your own wants here, there are others on this mission with you."

Isana frowned, looking rebellious and for a long moment. I could see her eying my collar consideringly, and I looked her square in the face, just daring her to try it. She could compel me to fight, but she couldn't compel me to fight _well_. Not as exhausted as I felt right then. It had been a rough day and we were all tired. Isana looked up longingly at the Gate in the distance.

"Renji's right Miss Isana," Yoruichi said gently. Isana transferred her glare over to the cat.

"We are all feeling weary from the journey today. It would be best to face what lies ahead of us rested and well-fed." She added in an undertone to the Mortal that I wasn't supposed to hear but could anyway.

"You know what he's like, Renji loves a good fight, for him to stop us and tell us to rest must mean that he's feeling really tired."

"Oh fine!" Isana muttered, clearly not liking it.

I took that as a victory and led Tanner and his burdens back across th Gate behind us to the Realm that had been relatively safe. I hadn't encountered any ferals in it and it had adequate cover and a supply of fresh water from a stream with a small waterfall nearby.

Yoruichi helped Isana pitch the tent that the two of them shared while I went out to look for firewood. Most animals tended to stay away from fires. I had most of an armful of wood, and was thinking about heading back when my sensitive nose picked up the smell of sulpher and water. Curious and hopeful I followed my nose back to the source and was elated to find that it led me straight to a hot-spring.

:_Alright_!: I thought, delighted. :_I can finally have a warm bath_!:

I headed back to camp to drop of the load of wood I'd collected and tell the ladies about my find, chances are they'd want to use it first. That was fine, I could wait.

"Hey ladies, there's a hot spring back that way. You can go ahead and use it if you want, I'll take care of dinner."

"Can you cook?" Isana asked dubiously.

"I think I can handle rice," I said dryly.

It wasn't exactly like she was a gourmet chef either so I didn't see how she had room to toss stones my way.

"A bath..." Isana said longingly.

"If yer goin' then take Yoruichi with you, you never know what kind of feral might be hiding out," I replied as I set the pot full of water on top of the heater in preparation to start dinner.

"Are you sure you don't want to join us Renji," Yoruichi said in a sultry tone.

Underneath it I could hear the teasing note.

"I'd love to," I replied in the same vein. "Unfortunately, if it's a choice between you or my stomach, the belly gets first dibs."

"Wow... he'd take food over a bath with two beautiful women," Isana murmured sotto-voce to Yoruichi. "The man really loves his food."

"If the road to a man's heart is through his stomach, Renji has a six-lane super-highway," Yoruichi replied as the two of them walked off, bathing supplies in hand.

I decided to go hunting (in the opposite direction of the bath) to kill time (and dinner) while I waited for the girls to finish their bath. There was bound to be something in these woods that was good for killing nearby. Plus, it would have the added benefit of letting local wildlife in the area know that there was a dangerous predator (me) about and they shouldn't approach.

My enhanced sense of smell caught the strange scents of several forms of life, but lifeforms that smelled like meat always had a basic scent in common, so I picked the freshest and smallest and started tracking it down. Flash-leaping from tree to tree, I discovered that the critter was some kind of thing that looked like someone had crossed a rabbit and a squirrel with a monkey. Strange-looking, but it was fat and made of meat. I needed my protein. I caught a second and a third shortly after and then made my way back to camp where the two women were fully dressed, drying off thier hair and the water over the fire was just starting to boil.

While dinner cooked, Yoruichi went over the basics of reiatsu and kido, I listened with half an ear while I quickly gutted, skinned and spitted the animals I'd just killed to roast them over the fire. The water wasn't quite boiling yet so I kept an expert eye on the meat while I waited for it to finish heating up. After dinner I had the vague idea of getting in a little more practice with my kido.


	63. Testing the Limits

Yoruichi led Isana through the basics of kido while I cooked dinner, and I had to admit to feeling privately impressed with how fast she picked up the basics. I still struggled a bit with understanding the nuances of them still. It often felt like, no matter how hard I worked at it, my skills in that area always improved at a snails pace, if they even improved _at all_. In the Academy they'd taken to calling me "old Charcoal" at least until I caught and beat the crap out of enough of them to get them to stop.

:_Maybe now things will be different_,: I thought hopefully.

I'd laid all of my inner demon's to rest, and my reiatsu wasn't nearly so hard to control so...

"Where are you going?" Isana asked as I gave the little forest critters roasting over the open fire one last check before I rose to my feet and headed towards the edge of the camp.

"I'm gonna go do a little practicing of my own," I replied.

I didn't want to admit it out loud, but I was very curious deep down, to know just how powerful my reiatsu attacks could get when i went all out. So far, I'd only opened up four of my chackra's the remaining two chakra had never even once been touched, and I wanted to know what was in 'em. I was good enough with the shakahou to test it out using that, so...

"Be careful," Yoruichi cautioned.

"Yeah, yeah," I muttered as I paced off into the woods to find a good spot to practice by myself.

I found a nice little clearing in the woods where the strange goldish-colored moonlight from two moons shone down on me from the break in the tree branches. Figuring that I couldn't hurt if I centered my thoughts a little bit first, I pulled out Zabimaru and ran through a few of the sword-dances with him first, opening my first chakra and pulling out the energy in a steady even stream and sending it spinning neatly through my meridians flowing throughout my body. This was what a person who was good with kido would be able to do naturally with all of their reiatsu. I'd never tried moving all of my kido through my body, I got up to about the third chakra and all that energy flowing through my channels started looking for a way out. It pulled and popped and fizzed and struggled against the restraints of being forced to flow consistently through the channels in my body like a wild thing. Practicing with Zabimaru while trying to maintain an even flow to my reiatsu seemed to make things go smoother for me, so that was what I generally did.

:_Ya think I'm ready fer this?_: I questioned my blade as I widened my stance and sank my wieght into ready position, the reiatsu from my lowest chakra coiling warmly in my belly like fine whiskey.

::**_No_**,:: baboon King Zabimaru replied with a tired sigh. ::**_But I think you are going to try it anyway. You always do. At least this time don't start off with the highest level, work your way up.::_**

Well, that was good advice at least. I nodded to myself and pushed the sluice-gate of my first chakra all the way open, pulling out the power before it could even start to rush and sending it in a carefully controlled stream throughout my meridians. I very carefully envisioned the pattern-shape of the kidou spell I wanted to perform in my mind, a small knotwork geometric of lines of power weaving out in a spiral reminiscent of a spiders web. When I was certain that I had the correct image of the spell in my mind, I pulled on one of my main meridians and ever so cautiously began to weave the meridian into a mirror image of that pattern. I [aid painstaking attention to the details of the pattern, something that I rarely ever did, normally I just knotted up the meridian into as close an approximation as I could whip up on the fly, recited the chant or (more often) just shoved raw power into it and turned it loose. This time I made sure to get the lines of power that formed the structure for the spell perfect then I began to recite the chant.

"Oh ruler, mask of flesh and blood..." I chanted, attentively forming each word inside my mind.

I could never figure out what the hell the chant was supposed to mean exactly, Momo had once tried to tell me something about the spell calling on elemental powers outside of our spirits, using our own spirit powers as a channel to work our wills with, but I never really understood it. All I knew what that it worked (most times).

Indeed, as I progressed through the chant, I pushed power into the pattern I had formed in my mind, force and energy blossoming out from the center of the pattern and racing out along the lines of power like a ripple on the surface of the water. Instead of the power struggling and pulling, trying to escape this time, the power flowed in in an orderly way, flowing smoothly out into the spell.

A neat orb or red fire formed perfectly in front of me, not even trying to burst free for a change. I almost lost control for a second as a feeling of elation welled up within me. I was doing it! Before the spell could falter I refocused my concentration and put my mind back to the spell.

I felt a coiling in my gut as i reached the end of the incantation and the power started to gather and stretch the lines of the spell, seeking a way out. This is where I usually had the most difficulty, but this time, like pulling back an arrow and releasing it, I let the spell fly at my target with a shout of

"Shakkahou!"

The orb of red fire burst forth from my flattened palm and roared through the air, for once not veering off its path or wobbling and falling short. The cairn of stone I had aimed at exploded with more force than even I had been expecting and I had to duck a little to dodge the debris from the blast. I felt a grin stretch its pleased way across my face as i surveyed the results of my success. I'd never managed any results so well or so easily.

:_Okay_!: I congratulated myself. :_Now, **without **the chant_.:

I summoned up the same pattern in my mind, pushing and pulling my meridians into the remembered shape, and shoved a wave of power into it with roared outwards from the center, more like an explosion than a ripple. The orb of red fire materialized in front of my flattened palm instantly.

"Shakkahou!" I shouted.

The war cannon burst away from me, not quite singing me, but stinging a little with the backlash of its release. It destroyed the next pile of stones I had sighted. It wasn't quite as powerful at the one I had performed with the chant but it wasn't so bad. A person couldn't tell by looking anyway. To get in a real practice, I fired off a few more shakkahou's, just to make sure I had it down before I proceeded.

I unlocked my second chakra, sending the additional power of my bound reiatsu spinning out to join the power from my first chakra of my meridians. It was a little more difficult to control, but I had gotten better at it over the last few days what with the battles and my practicing with Zabimaru. I formed the spell, chanted while let power flow into the patterns of it and released. I could feel the difference in power right away, the red flame cannon was less a deep crimson and more of s scarlet with contained power. The power also quivered a little inside the spell pattern, the ropey lines of power pulling just a trifle with the less controlled reiatsu spiralling through them. I needed better control. For the next two releases of the spell, I concentrated on getting the energy to flow smoothly into the pattern. After about a half an hour of steady practice, I felt that I was ready to try opening up the third chakra.

The Shakkahous that followed the release of the third chakra were even more difficult and I had to forcibly strain to keep the lines of force in the spell from pulling out of their set patterns and disrupting my spell. The reiatsu pulled and pushed, straining against the constraints I'd put around it. The shakkahou's I released the first few trials were more what I was accustomed to when I worked with kido, crude, difficult to sight and keep on target, and sending a nasty little backlash my way when I released them. But when they did land on target... whew! Let me tell ya, they were impressive! They not only obliterated the target but they left a sizable smoking crater from the amount of sheer energy released. I worked away at getting the reiatsu from the third chakra to even out and start flowing through my meridians and into the spells more smoothly. The smoother the power flowed through the meridians in my body, the smoother my kido blasts became, but my reiatsu had always been a bit difficult to work with, too much like me I guess, contrary, powerful and disinclined to listen when people wanted to tell me what to do. Still, it did seem to be getting better, and after another hours practice I decided that i might be ready to try tackling the fourth chakra.

::**_You may wish to reconsider that_**,:: Baboon King Zabimaru advised. ::**_Your control over your first three chakra, while improving is far from absolute. Taking on the upper three chakra at this point would be inadvisable. You are not ready yet_**.::

"Hey, I thought I had mastered all the chakra,: I replied to him, feeling a little miffed. What had all that unbinding and emotional turmoil been about if not to enable me to access the true power of my reiatsu?

::**_Unsealing is not mastery_**,:: Babs replied. ::**_Your meridians are not prepared to handle the full might of that energy yet, if you attempt it while you are still so unprepared you may burn yourself out._**::

I was getting a little weary. Like any practice with Zabimaru, it was a real workout. My skin was already coated in sweat and I had stripped down to my pants only. I would have had sweat dripping in my eyes if not for the bandanna around my head. Still...

:_I need to know how much power is in there_,: I said stubbornly. :_I might have a tough fight tomorrow and I need to know what I've got in reserve to draw on in case I need it_.:

::**_He never listens, does he_**?:: Snakey said in a resigned tone.

::**_I suppose in the end, painful experience is the only teacher he hears. Let us hope he _**_survives _**_this one_**.::

Well, it wasn't quite agreement, but my Zanpakutou was reluctantly on board.

:_Let's do this_!: I said.

I closed my eyes and focused my concentration inwards, unlocking the gate within myself and throwing open to door to the sluice wide open. The energy of the fourth chakra rushed into me in a swamping wave, warm and heady, like a bottle of warmed up sake. I swayed a little on my feet, the ready rush of power feeling very similar to drunkeness. I tried pushing it into my meridians but couldn't quite seem to reach through the happy foglike feeling of dizziness that accompanied having so much power saturating me. I could feel it in the air around me, staste it on the wind that kicked up with me at it center, tugging my hair and cooling the sweat on my body. It even felt a little difficult to breathe, my chest tightened in reaction to the somewhat suffocating feeling of the power expanding outwards under my skin. I panted a bit and dizzily tried to put my mind back on the spell.

I swayed a little, trying to keep my feet, as the world tilted around me in a whirl and tried to get the near-overwhelming wellspring of energy swamping my senses to flow into my channels like they were supposed to. My throat felt dry and scratchy as i started to gasp out the chant. The power struggled in ways that I had not felt since my early days in the academy, when i was just beginning to learn how to control my spiritual power. It felt like that, only to a factor of about ten; this spiritual power had real fight in it, it bucked like a maddened bull, metaphysically tossing me about from the inside. I struggled to hand onto my perch in control of it letting ut jump about and kick as it would, I tightened my grip on the metaphysical reigns and wrestled the flood of raw power into some semblance of order and submission. I had come this far and I was not going to be beaten by the force inside of me.

It took several failed tries but I at last managed to gather in most of the power, center it, and send it spiraling through my meridians. There was still some power floating freely about but for the most part it was somewhat controlled within my meridians. Once I had it flowing through my channels and my chakra in a more controlled manner I found that I could breathe a little better and that the feeling of semi-drunkeness faded little by little as I gained greater mastery over it.

I struggled to push and pull my meridian into the pattern of the shakkahou. It took real effort this time, the wild, willfull might of my power fighting me every step of the way. Even after I had gotten through the first level of the spell it still struggled against me, straining with real power to get free. It still had a kick like a mule but I was starting to get a bit of a feel for it, again I wrested for control. If I could fight Zabimaru into submission then this shouldn't be much more difficult. It took a lot of work and by the time I managed to wrest my meridian into some semblance of the pattern for the spell I had sweat pouring off me and my hair was positively drenched in it. I began the chant again, the spell straining against me like it was playing tug-of-war, but I held firm, pouring my effort into maintaining the parameters of the spell as I proceeded to chant and pour energy into the pattern. Power roared through the empty lines of the pattern like a wildfire, once I had loosed the energy there was no modulating its flow, no reigning it in. I knew what that meant. Backlash. I'd never released this much of my own energy so I didn't know how bad it was going to be but my guess would be... bad.

:_Hang on_,: I thought to myself desperately.

Part of me was terrified by the power flowing through me and the painful end I knew was going to come with the release of that much reiatsu lashing back at me, but I had no choice now, I was in it.

"Fool!" I dimly heard Yoruichi Shihouin's voice berate me as the vermilion orb coalesced in the air before me. This was no tame little fire ball, this was an immense globe of fiery pain, barely restrained by the spell. It grew bigger and bigger and I couldn't seem to stop pouring energy into it as I chanted, I had so much reiatsu already invested into this that it just _wouldn't stop_. I would have no choice but to release the power and hope I survived it.

I couldn't breathe. I panted but my chest still felt tight, like I couldn't get any air into it from the power-saturated wind screaming around me. I couldn't breathe!

:_Can't give in, almost there_...:

I felt the energy kick and struggle.

:_Almost there_...:

The globe of fire expanded outward, flares of unrestrained reiastu popping out like solar flares from off the surface of the sun, the energy flickered and tried to burst free. I clamped down on it even as the reiatsu continued to pour into it as I chanted. This had already gotten out of hand, I should be trying to concentrate and focus the fireball, not feed it so it got large, but I was already having so much difficulty-

"You idiot!" Yoruichi snarled at me, appearing at my side in a flicker of motion. She touched her finger-tips to three points along my spine, just below each of my chakra points, I felt a force alien to me wrap itself around my meridians and pull. My energy began to drain out, feeling a lit like the siphoning that had went on inside of the shadow of the Shadowbeast. The orb began to shrink a little and my spell started to unravel.

"Release it you brainless ape," Yoruichi commanded me in a tone that would not hear any argument.

She was crouched down behind me with one hand on the middle of my back and the other hand touching the ground, I had no idea why.

With a wordless feeling of indescribable relief I pushed out, sending the red flame cannon ball screaming towards its target. The ground beneath it ripped up and it veered off to the left, I clamped down desperately on the spell, my knees getting weak, then it jerked to the right and I pulled it back on track with the remainder of my strength. I was just about tapped out. I weakly braced myself for the backlash of energy as the spell disconnected fully from me as it found its target. The target was not just destroyed, not just obliterated... it was vaporized. The stone at the bottom of the crater actually liquefied and melted into black slag-glass.

"Uhlhg!" Yoruichi made a wordless grunt of pain-filled impact and I felt a mild sting wash over me, but not nearly the power that I had been expecting from the backlash. Even so, it was enough to render me unconscious.


	64. Oof, ah bugger

I woke flat on my back with a raging headache and a powerful thirst. My first thought was that i was hung over but the lack of stomach-turning nausea and the stale taste of sake in my mouth belied that bleary assumption. I lay there for a moment, waiting for my wits to return to me. Where was i, what had i been doing? Reiatsu, shakkahou, brilliant idea to test my strength... thaaat's right.

"Is the idiot boy awake?" Yoruichi's voice said from off to one side.

"Yes," I rasped. "He is, unfortunately."

"Ah, so the fool regains consciousness. That's good, apparently he does not even realize how lucky he is to be doing so. if he had continued to attempt the spell using that magnitude of power so recklessly and without proper control, the backlash would have killed him without my intervention."

Killed me? Really?

::**_Yes, really_**,:: Baboon King Zabimaru said dryly into my mind.

"Is that why my head feels like someone stampeded a herd of Menos Gillians through it?" I asked aloud to them both.

"You deserve worse for so recklessly taking your life in your hands like that in the middle of a mission," Yoruichi said, her cold words belying the heat in her tone. "I had thought you possessed a greater degree of professionalism than that lieutenant. I have half a mind to head back to the Seireitei and bring your captain here so that he can berate you properly, but luckily for you, I don't have time for that right now... too busy saving your wretched little life and all."

"Okay okay, I get it," I grumbled. "I'm sorry! I just wanted to know how much I had in me, that's all. I've never tried to open up all of my chakra at once and I was curious to know just how powerful my kido could get."

"The cat is not the only thing that curiosity has killed," Yoruichi replied.

I was too tired and in too much pain right then to argue with her or offer further justifications, I just lay there tiredly, unable to move. My eyes drifted closed and I lost a significant slice of time. When next I woke I was lying wrapped in a blanket next to a dying fire, ravenously thirsty and hungry. I reached for a pot hanging over the fire with the sweet smell of rice coming from it and didn't even bother with the bowl, or with chewing for that matter. Minutes later I twisted open a bottle of water and gulped it down, then returned to the rice. It was a little bit later that I was satisfied and I lay back down, looking up at the stars wheeling inthis strange sky and considered my most recent brush with death.

:_Zabs_?: I tried, trying to mentally connect with my sword.

We had gotten familiar with each other over the course of this trip, he was someone I had always privately relied on. I didn't think there were many Soul Reapers who could truly say that they _loved _their Zanpaktou, but to me Zabimaru was perhaps the one person I could love without fear. He was the one person in my life, Rukia included, that I had loved who hadn't accidentally or on purpose ripped out a tiny chunk of my heart at some point.

::**_Humph_**!:: the sword said, clearly irritated with me. I knew why too.

Time to man up and apologize.

:_You tried to warn me and I didn't listen. I'm sorry_.:

::**_If sorry were enough, there'd be no need for hell_**,:: Snakey snapped back at me. They were really upset.

:_I'm really **really **sorry_,: I insisted. :_Please forgive me_?:

::**_For how much longer are we going to have to drum it into your thick skull that you can't always go rushing into your training or into a battle? How many more times can you be stupid and ignore warnings before you get yourself killed stupidly and sever our bond forever_**?:

I blinked in surprise,taken aback by the berations from a sword that had alays urged me on to greater acheivements, reveled in my relentless drive and even in the risks and the battles we fought.

:**_It's lonely, you know, waiting for the call of a soul that is worthy to bear our strength, one of suitable drive and temperament, one with tenacity and fight. It is not easy, the waiting. In that vast dreamless nothing, time passes strangely and you wonder if you have been there for an instant or an eternity_**.::

I had never considered what it might be like for a Zanpaktou, waiting for their weilder to appear as a candidate for the Soul Reapers in the cycle of death and rebirth.

:_I'll take it easier with the kido then. You know it's not my strongest suit and yer right, I shoulda listened to ya_,: I said, humbling myself to apologize.

::**_Damn right ya shoulda listened to us_**,:: Snakey replied, but despite the grumbling tone I could hear an underlying softness and knew that I had been forgiven my pride and folly.

I yawned again and drifted off to sleep.

...

I was feeling one hundred percent better in the morning. That was the nice thing about practicing with kido, at least for me, unlike with sword practice when I used kido I could count on all of my energy trickling back into its usual place and myself being fully restored after a good nights sleep. The next morning I woke feeling alert and refreshed.

I woke, stretched my body out, put myself through my usual conditioning excersizes as a warm-up, and went to my usual sword-dances and forms. It was a cool morning, the dew from the night before clung onto the blades of grass and it was chill on my bare feet while I ran my body through ist usual practice regimen. Zabimaru commanded me to open myself up to my third Chakra and start regulating the energy flowing through my meridians in order to gain greater mastery over my Reiatsu. I was half-way through, shirtless as usual, and sweating only lightly, when I became aware of the audience. I looked over to note the interested gaze of my two female traveling companions.

"Help you ladies?" I inquired dryly.

"Go right ahead, keep at it, we'll just sit right here..." Yoruichi said smiling widely at me.

"And watch," Isana chimed in, smiling just as widely at me.

There was something about the quality of their smiles that made me feel a little wary, but frankly, I was more interested in getting Zabimaru's training done with than I was interested in analyzing what the heck was going through their minds. Chances were, that with the both of them being women, I wouldn't get it anyway.

I shook my head and continued on with my training regimen, trying to ignore the weight of the two pairs of eyes on me. I wasn't accustomed to training with an audience in the morning and it was a little unnerving at first until I managed to get back into my groove.

"If you don't mind, I'm gonna use the springs before we go," I said, rolling my shoulders to loosen up after I was done with my self-imposed training regimen. "Back ina bit."

I was looking forward to a hot bath for the first time in weeks. Never realized how much I missed the creature comforts of the Seireitei until I was stuck world-hopping out in the middle of the howling wilderness with a bossy female (two of them now if you counted Yoruichi). I all but flash-stepped over to the hot spring with a towel draped over one shoulder, a bucket filled with bath supplies and a fresh clean change of clothes.

I sighed in bliss as I sank into the blisteringly hot water with a feeling of immense relief. Heaven. I felt every muscle in my body forcibly relax itself as I partly floated in the milky-white water.

"Mind if I join you?" Yoruichi called over to me.

There was definitely a note of flirtatious teasing in her voice and I decided that for once I wasn't going to rise to the bait.

"Back off sister," I said in a relaxed tone, stretching out my long legs so that my toes touched the other side of the spring.

"You've already had your turn, this spring's mine."

"Aww, you're no fun," she said in a thwarted, pouting tone. "Are you sure you don't want someone to wash your back for you?"

I yawned at her in reply and made a shooing motion.

"I'll be out in a bit so bugger off," I said.

The hot water felt absolutely heavenly, especially after going so long without. The trip had been interesting and eventful in a lot of ways, not the least was the fact that I got all kinds of fun new enemies to fight and a new aspect of Zabimaru to work on mastering, but I had missed some of the amenities of civilization. It made me sound like a soft, spoiled nobleman's son instead of the stray dog from the slums I was, but it was true; after more than a week out in the field I started missing my creature comforts, by the end of a fortnight I was nearly desperate for a proper bath. Washing in the cold waters of whatever lakes and streams I could find to camp near along the way was definitely not the same thing, I reflected as my muscles relaxed and knots I hadn't known I had began to untense a little.

I soaked for a good while and then reluctantly washed up thoroughly and climbed out of the pool and into a clean change of clothes. They were clothes from the Human World that the missy had gotten for me, but they were the closest ones I had found to my original shihakushou. Trousers of a tough material that I thought I had heard Rukia call "jeans" before, that were properly black in color and of looser, more comfortable fit than some of the others that the mortal had picked out for me. I had only solid, durable boots to wear instead of the tabi and straw sandals I was used to, but I had to admit that in the rough terrain I had crossed so far they had endured well. I wore a plain black shirt without any sleeves that showed the marks still on my shoulders and upper arms, and lastly pulled on the voluminous full-length shadow-black cloak that seemed to completely disguise reiatsu that I had won from the elves. I combed and tied back my hair as was customary and fixed a white bandana across my brow and pulled out a pair of sunglasses I had picked up in the human world and put them on over it.

:_You ready Zabimaru_?: I asked.

He didn't dignify the query with a response, of course he wouldn't, and why should he? Asking Zabimaru if he was ready for a fight would be like asking someone if rain was wet.

I secured him properly through my belt and walked back to the place where we had camped to find that it was all packed away and Isana was seated atop Tanner with Yoruichi secured to the saddle-pad behind her. Someone was good and ready to go. Good.

I didn't waste my time saying unnecessary things, I just took up Tanner's reigns and headed toward the nearby Gate platform.

* * *

**I thought I'd quickly post all of the boring chapters in which nothing really happens as quickly as possible so we can get on with the good stuff. This one was, for some strange reason, originally two separate chapters (not sure what I was thinking when I split it up) so I decided to consolidate it, edit and post. Enjoy the two-fer!**


	65. Out of the Shadows Comes the Light

**Pay attention kids because here it is... the moment you've all been waiting for.**

Stakeouts had never been exactly my strong point. I lay stretched out and prone on an outcropping the terrain features and my cloak hiding me and my party of three from detection (Isana had long since hauled in and hid her little spooky not-horse). The place that we were watching with all the interest and intensity of a cat at a mousehole was about half a mile below us, located in a deep valley surrounded by rock on all sides with a narrow pass carved into the rock on one side. I had yet to investigate where the pathway led to. The settlement (for lack of a better word) consisted of a few sparse, plain looking buildings (more like huts) made of stone and wood with clay-shingle roofs in a loose ring around a large, perfectly circular area of bare earth in the exact center of the valley. In the center of this perfect circle of bare earth was an enormous, elaborately intricate, casting array. There were many circles within the outer rim of the array, and lines connecting various parts of the circles and the thing had so many unfathomable symbols scrawled through it in strange patterns of mysterious significance that it looked like antique lace. This thing made the array that I'd seen holding the Katschei's Realm together look like a child's scribble in comparison. I didn't know what that array was for, or what it was supposed to do, all I knew was that there were Shadows crawling all over it, so it's purpose probably wasn't a _good _one for our side.

Yoruichi was down in the valley itself scouting out, listening about and doing her... ninja thing. I'd wanted to go with her originally but I was massively out-voted and out-logicked. After all, she was the one with mad stealthing skillz, I was more of a "bash in there and fight my way to wherever I wanted to get to" sort of rescuer. This mission called for stealth and secrecy; not two of my strong points to be honest. I was a little, okay, a _lot_, relieved to leave it to her. I stayed up on top of the cliff to babysit the little Missy... who had to be threatened with Binding Spells and being dumped in another world while the two of us rescued her son on our own in order to get her to stay in place. I'd gotten a lot of recordings for my reports; everytime the Shadows that came and went on unknown missions below us did anything that looked remotely interesting or significant I pulled the device out and started recording. So far, I wasn't certain that I'd gotten anything useful.

:_How much longer is that woman going to be down there_?: I wondered to myself in partial irritation at having been stuck in one position for so long barely able to move from it for fear of detection and partial worry and fear for my team-mate.

Part of me felt like I should be down there with her, but of course that was ridiculous... Yoruichi Shihouin, The Queen of Flash and ex-commander of the Seireitei's secret ops division had forgotten more about stealth and infiltration than the average Reaper would ever learn. I'd leave the infiltration and information gathering up to her and know that it was in good hands.

:_Still_...: I muttered in my thoughts as the wind from the valley brought another near-snooze-inducing whiff of Shadow scent up to me, laced among all the scents of different Shadows was the one that belonged to the one that had turned me mortal.

I wanted to be up and doing things, all this lying around here waiting and watching was driving me crazy. It felt like we'd been here for _ages_.

:_Hn, they're doing that **thing **again_...: I thought to myself in a mixture of interest and frustratited mystification.

Every so often a group of smaller Shadows with their nebulous matte-black forms like clouds of black smoke from a black incense burner, some of which were shot through with vaguely shimmering cords of strangely substantial dark would emerge from one or more of the buildings and gather in around the edges of the array in the center of the little settlement. They all seemed to have specific places around the circle where they stood, or in their case, hovered. They'd stay there for a long minute, their smokey-black formless forms swaying and billowing in unpredictable patterns, and then, by some unseen signal, they'd all start singing. It actually was more like a trilling sound, or in some cases it sounded like those eighties digitized flute noises from synthesizers I'd heard during the decade. Every time they did it the pattern glowed and it looked like new parts of it were written. Not only that but the Shadows themselves seemed different, it wasn;t anything I could point a finger at directly, but whenever I smelled one of them again afterward it was as though their scent had gotten somehow stronger or thicker. I didn't know exactly what it meant, but I had a feeling that it couldn't be good.

I was concentrating so intently on the activity of the little Shadow village down below me that I nearly missed the subtle movement of something watching me from the cover off to one side. Isana gasped a little in surprise as I blurred out. I broke out of the wind-step just behind the bushes where Isana and I had been observed from, Zabimaru already drawn.

Floating above a spot of inky darkness about the size of a rain puddle was a little, tiny... critter, made of matte and fluid dark with barely perceptible sparks of shimmer along its extremities. It looked a little like someone had crossed a furry cat with those fish that have those long translucent fins sprouting out from it, and then, in a pathetic attempt to make the little critter look ferocious, tacked on a couple of crab-like scythe limbs and fore-pincers. Unlike the massive beast from before, this specimen was about the size of a small lapdog, and just as intimidating. Having already encountered one of the Shadowbeasts before, I knew better than to start off by fighting the creature itself, instead I just materialized Zabimaru in Roar-form and sent the long, chain-blade fishing down into the shadow-puddle. The Shadowbeast, upon sensing my unexpected presence, naturally turned to fight me. Trying to keep my presence low-key and quiet I was thankful that the creature did not appear to be the brightest crayon in the box and didn't think to call out for aid.

::**_Found it_**!:: Snakey said in jubilant triumph a moment later.

In the strange little half-dimention that existed inside the Shadows form Zabimaru had located its heartstone, the locus of its essence and was bussy knocking it out of the Shadow. Strangley enough, the tiny stone, no bigger certainly than a large bead, came flying out of the center of the Shadowbeast as the creature disintegrated back into its puddle. The puddle fogged over and drifted up, gathering into a small cyclone that was sucked inside the center of the heartstone-bead. Still not daring to touch it with my bare hands, I transformed Zabimaru over into Howl-form and flipped the little bead towards Isana, signaling silently but frantically that she should bind it up fast. She did so as quietly as possible and I watched carefully down below us for a few long moments to see if our presence had been detected, but it looked like we hadn't been discovered. Just to be safe, I moved Isana and I back to a safer, more easily defensible, location to wait for Yoruichi.

We were kept waiting a while, but that was kinda ta be expected; she was sneaking around after all, and stealth took time. Ya had to be cautious to avoid discovery. I would have liked to have been able to fill my time with practice, I was an active sort (despite all the paperwork I now usually had to do) and if I wasn't actually busy with work I could always be found polishing my skills at the training courts. Enforced idleness did not settle well with me. The little missy didn't seem to mind it though; she pulled a nail-kit out of god only knows where and went to work. Unfortunately, she couldn't seem to find it in her to do her girly thing in silence, oh no...

"Just look at my nails," she commented. "I've lost them one by one. I don't think there is a single one of them that isn't chipped, the paint's completely destroyed, and these cuticles are a mess. I swear, ever since I went on this trip with you it's just run havoc on my features. My skin is a ruin from having to use bar-soap and when I get home I'm going to have to bathe in moisturizer for a week."

My brow furrowed at that last one. It didn't sound very comfortable.

"You're the one that insisted on coming along," I reminded her unsympathetically.

True, there had been some few times when she'd been useful and I'd been glad to have her along, but for the most part she'd been an unlooked for complication.

"Why do you spend so much time and effort on yourself?" I finally broke down and asked her. "I mean, every single morning you take all this time putting make-up on and making your hair perfect and getting your clothes just right and I don't really see why since there's usually only me here to see it and I don't care either way."

She looked at me for a long moment and said

"Taking care with my appearance is a way of maintaining my dignity and self-respect, it a way of showing the world that I'm someone worth paying attention to."

I still didn't get how fussing with her hair and clothes and nails was going to do that and my confusion must have shown on my so very readable face because she added

"Let me put it this way, you take great pride in your strength and your prowess on the battlefield true?"

I nodded. Of course I did.

"You have that strength and your status to let people know that you're someone worth paying attention to. Well, people judge by appearances too, whether they should or not. They're more likely to listen to a person if that person looks like someone worth listening to. You remember that they treated me well in the Court of Genbu, that's because I had the appearance of someone they wouldn't dare to offend. Besides... People in hero-tales and songs from the movies always look fabulous, and so you should always try to look your best, because you never know when it could be your chance to become a legend!"

I snorted to myself, perfect female logic.

"I could do your nails if you like," she said in an enticing tone, like I was going to go for it.

I just gave her a look in reply.

"Maybe later then..."

"Or maybe never," I corrected her.

It seemed to be taking Yoruichi forever to return from her scouting mission. We'd been cooling our heels there for nearly the entire day. Apart from my brief run-in with that tiny, miniscule little Shadow earlier the whole day had been completely uneventful.

:_Then again,given all the excitement I've had lately, maybe I should be enjoying myself_,: I thought to myself.

It was full dark when Yoruichi at last made it back to our camp. We rose to greet her but she signaled sharply for silence and led us back to the gate we had come from. This world had many different gates scattered around in it, like it was some kind of great Gate-nexus or sumthin' and it was lucky for us that it was so; with this many gates they couldn't possibly keep track of who was coming and going through all of them, so we'd been able to sneak in unnoticed.

The three of us went back across the gate and then hopped to another gate and took that to a neutral Realm. That's when the three of us huddled together and Yoruichi told us what she had discovered spying around in the stronghold of the Shadows.

"First of all," she said. "That world we went in was only _one _of their bases of opperations but it wasn't the _main _one. That Realm we were just in was where they had set up an array to pool together much of the energy they harvested from the unraveling Realms in order to prepare to use it to manufacture Heartsblood Diamonds."

"Manufacture heartsblood diamonds?" Isana asked. "But why would they want to do that?"

"Apparently, when Emperor Genbu said they were exceedingly rare he wasn't exaggerating at all. That collection of them that Renji stole back from the Katschei was the largest single collection of those stones in known existence," Yoruichi explained. "They are very highly prized because of their ability to trap and store magic that can be accessed again. Most objects that have the ability to store power in a latent state must also have a purpose set to that power, one that usually reflects the creators natures, Heartsblood Diamonds are different because they can collect power from _any _magical or spiritual source and convert it into latent usable energy."

I still didn't see what was so special about that. Yoruichi must have seen my look of blankest confusion for she sighed exasperatedly and said

"It's those stones that enable them to harvest power by unraveling the abandoned Realms and sucking off all the latent energy that makes them up. It is _that _power that augments and increases their own fading power. Pretty soon the Shadows won't be Shadows anymore, they'll have all of thier old mojo back. Not that it matters any to the Soul Reapers if there is a massive civil war raging across the Dangai, but if Aizen uses them as his own personal army like we all think that he will..."

"Yeah, bad news for the home team," I agreed.

"I'm sure this is all big news for you," Isana said shortly. "But what I want to know is, where is my son?"

"I'm getting to that. Where was I?"

"Heartblood diamonds, manufacturing the stones, Shadows harvesting energy."

"Right. Well, as it turns out neither Aizen nor the Shadows can create those Heartsblood Diamonds on their own. They lack a key ability. The ability to harness reishin particles and channel them into usable energy."

My mind flashed back to the time when I'd seen that Ishida brat go all-out with his Quincy powers, he'd literally pulled in the surrounding scenery, roof-tiles and all, and turned it into energy to throw at his enemies. I was sort of beginning to see where she was going with this.

"So Aizen kidnapped all of those Quincy children so that he could use that channeling power of theirs to manufact some more of those Heartsblood Diamons then?" I guessed.

"Precisely," Yoruichi confirmed with a nod. "And he no doubt plans to use those diamonds as bribes to keep his new Shadow Army in line."

"I don't care about Aizen or his army, where is my son?" Isana snapped.

"Impatient," Yoruichi muttered. "Your son is with the other Quincy children that Aizen ordered kidnapped. They were recently ordered to be moved to Hueco Mundo."

"Hueco Mundo?" we both said in surprise for different reasons.

"Where's that?" Isana asked next.

"Why?" I demanded on the same breath.

"Aizen failed in his ploy to gather enough power to create an oh-ken from the destruction of Karakura town because he was prevented by the Soul Reapers, so likely he has planned a _different _route to it now. Renji, you yourself know how many of the Soul Reapers are stationed there; nearly _half _of them, including a good portion of top-level officers, and a Captain or two. Plus there's all of the remaining arrancars, and you know it takes a very very great number of souls to create an arrancar, and the rest of Aizen's Hollow Army that was not killed in the earlier clash with the Seireitei. You do the math."

I had already done the math, I was betting the numbers weren't any better now than they had been the first time I'd done it. Thinking about it would only depress me.

"How do the Quincy fit in then?" I asked.

Yoruichi rolled her eyes heavenward as if calling on the patience to explain something terribly obvious to someone who was hopelessly dense. I got that look a lot.

"Those arrays we have been seeing here and there have been feeding power to the Heartsblood Diamonds at the center of the Shadows. That's those stones you've been seeing every time you have isana bind one of them. We can assume that they were sent out by Aizen with the mission to harvest that power. That array you saw earlier today in the center of that town has a similar but different purpose. Think of it like a horde, or a cache, where the harvesting Shadows pour in the power they have harvested to be used to create more Heartblood Diamonds, but in order to do this they needed Quincy children."

"How do you know that?" Isana asked skeptically.

Yoruichi pulled out a collection of scrolls that I had given her that I had grabbed almost at random from the Katschei's collection and stuffed in with the others that I had thought might be useful. I'd even tried reading them, _tried _being the operative word because they might as well have been written in cuneiform for all the sense they made to me. I hadn't been able to make heads or tails of them, but when Yoruichi offered me one of those delicious real-world cupcakes in exchange for them I felt I'd gotten the better end of the deal. Still did, as a matter of fact.

_((**Authors Note: comic break... **It went something like this..._

_Renji is sitting next to a campfire staring at a scroll like a monkey doing a math problem, terribly puzzled look on his face, even turning the scroll upside down from time to time to see if it made any more sense that way._

_Yoruichi: What are you reading Renji?_

_Renji: A scroll. I can't make heads or tails of it._

_Yoruichi: [takes the scoll and skims down it] [she gasps in shock] Renji! Do you have any idea what this is?_

_Renji: [brightly] Not a damn clue._

_Yoruichi: It's written in an ancient dialect and you can barely read modern so that doesn't surprise me. This text is a treatise on the theory of Hollowfication, but it was written way before Aizen or Uruhara which means that someone tried it before!_

_[she snatches up another scroll from the pile]_

_Yoruichi: And this one deals with the early days of the Soul Reapers, back before the Academy or Soul Society as we know it was ever formed, even the archives at the library or at Kuchiki's mansion only have a very few of these kinds of scrolls... And this one here, wow, it's a text on the origins and development of the kido spells and system that we use! This one here talks about Zanpaktou-_

_Renji: Ooh! I'll take that one. Finally, something interesting!_

_Yoruichi looks at him in dumbfounded dismay and amusement._

_Yoruichi: Do you have any idea how much those scrolls are worth? Where did you get them?_

_:Renji: No I don't, and I found them. [starts trying to read the scroll about the swords and gets that frustrated look on his face]_

_Renji: grrrr, why can't they write these damn things in plain laguage so i can understand it._

_Yoruichi: [mutters] like pearls before swine. [brightens and looks over at renji] Say Renji... [holds up a plastic-wrapped cupcake in the paml of her hand]_

_[Renji brightens and eyes the cupcake with the attention of a dog spotting a treat]_

_Yoruichi: Since you're not able to really read those scrolls, how about giving them to me?_

_Renji: [Looks dubious about it]_

_Yoruichi: I'll trade you this cupcake for them._

_Renji: But... you can always go back and enjoy the scrolls again and again. I only get one cupcake and once I eat it, it's gone._

_Yoruichi: [holds out a twinkie in her other hand] I'll give you two of them for them._

_Renji: Sold! One for now and one for later! [dumps the three scrolls, minus the sword one, on her lap and snatches the cakes]_

_Yoruichi: [to Isana] He really is just a simple creature._

_end))_

"The spell array in the world we were just in," Yoruichi said pulling out one of the scrolls and unrolling it. "This one here, is a smaller version of the spell used to create heartsblood diamonds. The spell needs an enormous amount of power at the start because what it does to create the stones is use a massive amount of power and the special Quincy abilities then concentrate it down into the size of a pinprick."

"Oh! Like a blackhole!" Isana exclaimed. She to caught my blank look for she hurriedly explained.

"Usually when a star reaches its end it either fizzles out or explodes something called nova, there are rare instances,scientists think, that a star somehow gets to heavy to maintain its own mass so it collapses in on itself and forms a black hole. All that power turns inward and implodes creating a vaccuum that sucks in all available light."

"Except that this spell stabilizes the magic-draining black hole within the core of heartsblood diamond by creating a special variation of a Gate spell, sort of like an inverted Gate spell, allowing only magic to pass through it, and at that, _only _when the Gate is activated. As a precaution against the stone being destroyed, every manufacted Heartsblood Diamond has the spell written in every speck that makes up the stone so that even if the stone is broken the spell will not destabilize. However, the creation of the stone is a _highly _dangerous process. If the spell were to become unstable during the process of creating it, there would be the spiritual equivalent of a massive black hole sucking in spirit energy unstopably."

"And that would be bad," I said.

"That's why he took those Quincy children to Hueco Mundo," Yoruichi explained with a slightly gritting tone, like I was really testing her patience. "So that he can unleash the spiritual equivalent of the atomic bomb on all of the spirits gathered there, take in all of the energy to be found on _both _sides, in the process getting rid of a large number of his most difficult enemies, and as an additional added bonus he gets to harvest all of that power for himself to both create an oh-ken and cement his new Shadow Army's loyalty to him as thier leader with the promise of Heartsblood Diamonds of their own so that they can go out and collect power from other Realms in order to most likely return to thier former glory... and if I know Aizen, he'll eventually go on to challence the respective Elemental Courts just the same as he is challenging the Spirit Court and its guardians, the Soul Reapers."

For about the second or third time since this trip began, my heart dropped down to the region of my toes as Yoruichi laid bare Aizen's real objectives with precise efficiency. Part of me almost admired the way so many different plans and approaches came together to an end of such elegant simplicity. They said real genius in strategy lay in making the complex simple without losing its integrity and if that were so then Aizen was verifiably a genius... but he was a genius who had not the least qualm about killing off all of my friends and destroying everything I cared about, so there fore, I was about to take all of his beutiful, elegantly simple starategies and throw bankai-Zabimaru-sized wrench in them.

* * *

**Ha ha... betcha didn't see that one coming did you? Well, except for the part about Renji throwing the Zabimaru-sized wrench... Please let me know what you thought of it and I hope it was worth the sixtychapter-plus wait.**

**And as a side note (and an utterly shameless plug on my part) I'm posting a multi-chapter Byakuya and Hisana fic. If you hadn't guessed, that pairing seems to be the one I'm drawn to most besides Renji and Rukia. It seems there's something about a tragedy that just won't let me leave it alone. It's called Comes the Spring and I hope you will all drop by and tell me your thoughts on it.  
**


	66. Preparation

I looked at her blankly for a long moment, trying to process all that she had just told me, but my mind didn't like to waste time with those twisty ways of motivations and plots and plans within plans so I just filed it all away to think about later.

Nevermind for now the part about Heartsblood Diamonds and harvesting power from abandoned Realms, forget even that he planned to use them to buy off the Shadows and create himself and even more powerful army. Here was what mattered... Aizen was going to use innocent quincy kids to create the spirit/magic equivalent of a reverse atomic bomb, during the process he would destroy all of my friends (and not-so-coincidentally half of Seireitei's fighting force) when he unleashed the array in Hueco Mundo. Yoruichi, Isana and I were the only ones with both the information and the means to stop him.

"I don't know about all the rest o' that," I said, shaking my head. "But I do know that if those Quincy kids are all in Hueco Mundo, then that's where we need to be 'cause I promised the little missy here that I'd get her kid back so I can finally get this little monkey off my back."

I gestured pointedly to the collar she had bound around me.

"An' interuptin' Aizen's little evil plot sounds like a nice way ta pay him back fer inadvertently turnin' me mortal, the asshole. Besides, if I know the former fifth squad captain, he's probably already at least lured that Ishida-brat in with promises of more of his own kind there and where Quincy-boy goes, the Strawberry can't be too far behind (trouble-magnet that he is) and if _he's_ going then Rukia will be there too since she's supposed to be keepin' an eye on him. And where those kids are the Vizards will probably show up..."

I grinned a little as an unexpectedly funny thought occurred to me.

"It's like that song! The farmer in the dell who grabs his wife who then grabs their child who grabs the dog who grabs the cow and so on until they grab the rat or whatever."

Yoruichi looked momentarily amused by my observation and the tension from the news-bomb she'd just dropped on all of us dissipated a little bit.

"So we're going to this Huko Muddy place to get my son back?" Isana asked impatiently.

"Hueco Mundo," I corrected absently."Aizen's laid his trap there, so that's where yer kid'll be."

"The array to create Heartsblood Diamonds relies on the Quincy's ability to harvest reishin particles," Yoruichi reminded her.

"I don't really get everything you just said," Isana said flatly. "All I care about is getting my son back. Whether he's in Hueco Mundo, or Hell itself, that's where we're going."

"As usual, I'm glad you're all fired up missy," I said. "But I'm not so certain it would be such a good idea for you to come along on this one. If Aizen's making his _move _then that means that he's going to have all of his heavy-hitters out in the feild. Last time it was the Espada and we all had a hard enough time with his initial push, if he's got his higher-level Shadows making their big debut then-"

I realized, by that determined look she got on her face, that my argument was falling on deaf ears. I knew that look. It was the same look that Hinamori had gotten on her face back during that fateful day-trip in the Academy when she decided that it was _absolutely _necessary that she not run away like everyone was doing and had been ordered to do, and that she should turn around and run right into danger just because it was necessary thing to do... thus dragging Kira and I right along with her instead of sensibly following orders. The little Missy was not going to listen to my sensible recommendation that she, a civilian and non-combatant, not rush headlong into danger. _Oh no_, she was going and I could either lead, follow, or get the hell out of her way.

I sighed and decided against wasting my breath and said

"Yer set on goin' anyway aintcha?"

She nodded with a look on her face that said 'of course I'm going, you expected otherwise?'

I sighed again, this woman was gonna be the death of me.

"You do realize that the place we'll be going will be crawling with Hollows don't you? Big, scary, _mean _shagnasties that like to eat human souls for dinner."

"Well you're a big, bad, tough Soul Reaper Lieutenant aren't you?" she replied. "What else do you think I keep you around for?"

"Comic relief?" Yoruichi suggested.

I replied with a glare and said

"I'm serious here. You've had it pretty easy, the Reams we've been hopscotching across have been mostly uninhabited, and you haven't had to do a lot of fighting, but if you come along to this place we'll probably have to fight our way to where your son is through a lot of nasties that want to eat you. Are you sure you're ready for this?"

"I'm going," Isana said firmly.

I will admit that a selfish part of me was a little glad she was so determined; I _missed _my friends and my proper life, and I wanted to be able to warn them about the Shadows and help to fight them. If I'd left them alone when I knew it was all a trap I'd have felt like I was abandoning them in the middle of a fight, and that was something I didn't think I could live with. It was just my good luck that Isana was so set on going because it meant that I was, by default, I was going to go with her.

"So what, we just make it to the array and...?" I shot a questioning look at Yoruichi, who was currently the one with all of the information about the array and Aizen's big plan.

Yoruichi sketched a ten-sided polygon on the ground and put a circle of five stones at each of the ten major points and a larger stone in the center of the diagram, with lines of power leading out to each point.

Isana and I both leaned down and studied the diagram intently as she placed a small stick in the center of each of the five stones at the ten points and said

"The array looks roughly like this. The stone in the center is an actual Heartsblood Diamond, think of it like a master copy, a blueprint piece for what all of the other manufacted stones are going to look like."

She pointed to the ten points around the perimeter (each of which circled by five pebbles.

"Each of these points represents one Quincy, the five pebbles are the stones they'll be used to create. Each child will be taking in the power that will be released from the center stone, that's most of the power that the Shadows have been harvesting from different worlds stored in it, and then channeling it into the spell that will turn an ordinary diamond into a heartsblood diamond. The spell to do so will kill them, by the way."

Isana gasped and shot to her feet, I grabbed her arm and sat her back down.

"Shut up and listen," I told her.

Yoruichi turned back to the diagram.

"Once the power is released and the spells are anchored in the stones, the gateways in the manufacted stones will be flung wide open. When that happens they will begin collecting energy from anything nearby that has it, much the same way that a Quincy with his powers fully unleashed can collect and channel reishin. It will be the spiritual equivalent of a nuclear explosion, a wave of negative force will blow outward from the circle like a hot wind, sucking in all available spiritual energy like a massive black hole, Soul Reapers, Arrancars, humans, perhaps even Hueco Mundo itself if it is destabilized enough by the presence of the spell."

"In other words, everyone in the area dies," I said.

"To put it bluntly," Yoruichi replied. "The stones require an initial tithe of power in order for the spell array to transform them into Heartsblood Diamonds. That tithe of power in this case will be taken from the spiritual powers of every being present in that world when the spell goes off."

I looked at the basic spell array laid out before me. Everything seemed like it focused around that master-copy diamond in the center, so the answer for what to do seemed simple enough for me.

"So we just gotta smash that stone right?" I said, cracking my knuckles.

"Fool," Yoruichi replied flatly. "Even if you turned the master stone to dust, the spell that maintains it exists in _every _part of it."

"Meaning?" I demanded.

"Meaning you could grind the stone to powder but the spell itself would remain!" Yoruichi snapped in exasperation. "What we must do is _contain _that spell so that it cannot be released to make copies of itself and kill the Quincy children."

Yoruichi looked pointedly at Isana.

"That's where _this one_ comes in. Isana can use that handy little spell of hers to _seal _the stone, the energy that will fuel the destructive spell will not be released to trigger the spell-array, _and_, provided we can get all of the children out from under the Shadows alive, everyone goes home happy... except Aizen and the Shadows of course."

"Hm," I nodded.

It sounded simple enough.

"Sound simple," I said.

"It is simple... except that, if my information is correct, and it is,"Yoruichi replied. "Aizen is going to have the whole of Hueco Mundo stirred up like a piranha-tank on feeding frenzy. Not only will there be the regular Hollows out, but all of the left over exequias, the few arrancars that have managed to keep from being destroyed, whatever Vasto Lordes he can throw out on the lines as well as the cannon-fodder Hollows and... he'll be pulling up the Menos Forest from under the ground. It's going to be a slaughter house. And if that isn't enough fun for you, the array itself will be guarded by five of the strongest Shadows he's managed to recruit to his cause so far."

I blinked, picturing it.

"Nii-ice," I said approvingly, my wide, sharp Eleventh-squad smile stretching its pleased way across my face.

I would have been so terribly disappointed to miss out on all of the fun.

"I'm not big on fancy strategies," I said.

"Isn't that the truth," Yoruichi replied with saccharine sweetness.

"Basic idea is that we just smash our way through the Hollows to the Array, have the missy seal up the stone, get all the kids out, an' we're home free, right?"

"Provided nothing goes wrong, of course," Yoruichi's tone betrayed the fact that she thought that particular scenario wasn't very likely.

"We're not getting any more prepared just sitting here," I said. "Time's a'wasting. Everyone here's on board fer this one. We have our mission and our marching orders, let's get this show on the road. Yoruchi you do whatever is is you do to prep for battle, missy you get over here so I can make sure you're armor's on right and tight."

She walked over and stood beside me while I checked the elven armor I'd got for her with business-like efficiency, making sure each peice was whole and fitted to her properly. Yoruichi transformed from her usual cat form and put on the full rig-out of ninja gear instead of just usual black jumper and steel-web reinforced top. The places and means she found to store and hide weapons of various sorts was... worth noting. She should have been bristling like a porcupine but it seemed that her usual sleek outline never changed despite the fact that she had two forearm holders with stars and knives and another set on upper arm bands, two short katanas crossed on her back, three long knives going down her thighs, garotes, explosives, and a pouch full of special caltrops belted at her waist and yet more weapons tucked into the tops of her boots.

"Where's your Zanpaktou?" I asked her, partly joking.

She had been a Soul Reaper once, and a captain at that, so she had to have one. You couldn't be a Soul Reaper without one.

Yoruichi just smiled her mysterious Mona Lisa smile (the one that all women seemed to have) back at me and said nothing.

"Fine don't answer me," I grumbled half-heartedly.

Even though i was now mortal and collared to serve the little missy, I was already ready for battle. Even if I didn't have my Shihakushou, I had Zabimaru and that was all I needed.

'Alright, yer armors on right. Put yer cloak on too, yer enemies'll have a harder time finding you if you should get knocked off Tanners back if you have something cloaking your reiatsu."

I turned to Isana, she looked anxious and afraid now. Good, she should be. I gave her standard rookie advice for before a battle.

"Keep your head low and your eyes sharp. I'll be protecting your flanks, all you have to do is keep moving forward as _fast _as you can. If you get knocked off Tanner's back you summon one of your Guardian Spirits, Djin or Shivna-vatu preferably, to help you fight, and keep moving. No matter what happens to me or anyone else around you, you're the key to beating this thing so don't hesitate even for a moment. Tear your way through the enemies if you have to."

"But... I'm scared," she said quietly.

It was finally starting to sink in that this wasn't going to be a leisurely stroll through a dead Realm, she was going to be entering an active battle zone.

"Well, you probably should be," I said frankly. "But don't let your fear stop you, use it to help you keep going forward. Don't worry, I'm going to be with you the whole way, keeping anything from getting too close to you."

"What if you get hurt?" she asked anxiously.

I heard the unspoken, 'who's going to protect me then?' I double-checked Tanner's saddle to make certain it was secure and that everything was stable and good to go. I lifted her up into it and handed her the helmet she so despised. She gave me an anxiously pouting look to try to break the tension before she put it on (without arguing with me for five minutes about it for once).

"That's what you have those Guardian Spirits and your own magic for. Use them and keep moving." I gave her a reassuring smile, the same one i gave to all of my rookies before I sent them out into the field. "You want to save your son right?"

She nodded.

"Then concentrate on that and don't think about anything else. Don't be so quick to give up on me yet when the battle hasn't even started," I said, injecting my voice with its usual boasting confidence. "I am a lieutenant after all."

"Excuse _me_, mister Lieutenant," she said with a wan sort of humor in her voice.

Pulled out Zabimaru and asked if he was ready to go.

::**_Snaketail will enter the battle in this case_**,:: Babs told me. ::**_We should keep my form in reserve. Besides, it will be easier to protect her on all sides with the greater reach of the snaketail. Use his enhanced speed. Bankai when you must_**.::

:_Let's do this_.: I said, nodding firmly.

"While you accompany Isana to the array, I will go and inform the Captain's in the field of the real situation," Yoruichi said.

"Make sure you tell the Brat Pack too, since they'll no doubt be there," I added. "You can't keep that boy out of trouble."

"I was going to anyway," Yoruichi said dryly. "I am the fastest at flash-step so running information and messenger duty is the logical first step for me. i know you'll both do your best. Renji, try not to do anything too stupid, Isana you have courage and strength, don't let them fail you. Your son is counting on you... as are we all."

"No pressure," she muttered.

"Let's get it started," I said brightly.

* * *

**Alright, final interim chapter before IMHO one of the best chapters in the whole damn fic. Coming up on endgame, exciting stuff. Charging toward victory, lots of fighting. As usual I'd like to thank all of The Usual Suspects, my loyal reveiwers for all of their wonderful support. _War 90_ (whom I suspect must check his inbox every five minutes, watching like a hawk for a new chapter). _Bloody roses_ (who is always so very enthusiastic at every good milestone and a wonderful reveiwer). _Arienya_ (who manages to keep up on chapters despite crappy internet service poor dear and leaves such wonderful reveiws) _AngelIre_ (I miss you...) _tellie, .red., Oceanee_ (always delighted to hear from you). As for the lurkers/moochers you have these guys to thank for timely updates because I'm basically a lazy procrastinator. I hope to hear shout-outs from loyalists and lurkers alike on the next chapter, because it'll be intense.. like Dead Space. **


	67. The Balad of Isana's Ride

We activated the nearby gate and instead of staying on the starpath to the next terminus, we broke through the swirling-light walls of the pathway and into the thick, inky blackness of the Dangai, the Dark Between that separated all of the Realms, Mortal and Divine, from each other. I formed my own little road of light from my spirit energy, all of my strength completely restored from a full day of rest.

I was ready for a good fight.

The dark stretched out before and behind us and on all sides of us, except where my spirit-path carried us forward. I could hear the heavy, steady gait of Tanner thumping along the path behind me. I might be bound into mortal bones, but the Soul Reaper in me knew instinctively where Hueco Mundo, the realm of our adversaries, lay. I oriented on that feeling of _wrongness_ and sped toward it, heart pumping in anticipation.

When I felt the energy that formed the outer edge of the Realm vibrate before me, I sent a bursting shot ahead, punching through the barrier and forcing a hole to let me through. We paused for a moment on the threshold, a birds-eye-view from above, to take in the sight.

"You can't be serious!" Isana said in near-panic. "There's no _way _we can get through all of that!"

The scene that lay before us was like something out of a nightmare. Seething and churning like a sea stirred up by a storm, were the moving forms of bodies. White Hollows jabbed and swung at the slighter forms of the black-clad Soul Reapers who were flickering this way and that to avoid attacks and make counter-attacks of their own. Many Reapers used ordinary blades to fight but those that could do so had shikaied their Zanpaktou, so the strange, sharp, sometimes colorful forms of the famous reaping scythes of the Soul Reapers blades flashed and blurred, burst and shimmered in the sourceless twilight of the Hollows world.

The battle stretched as far as we could see, on all horizons there was the sight of beings trying to kill one another with blade and claw, tooth and spell. From our height in the air above it sort of resembled ants scurrying over a piece of dropped food, all was a senseless flurry of motion, the individual particles nearly indiscernible from the whole, but the _noise_... the sea-like roar of voices raised in a song of feirce killing-intent carried to our minds the reality of the situation. I forced myself to turn away from the voice inside of me that told me that I should be down there fighting alongside my comrades and started to scan the horizons, looking for-

"There!" Yoruichi pointed suddenly.

I looked where she gestured and sure enough there was a bright glowing spot in the middle of the battlefield, surrounded by tall, massive forms of Shadowbeasts ringed around the circle to protect it.

I angled the spirit-path downward and signaled the troop to move out. Yoruichi blurred out, already headed to fulfill her own mission.

"Renji, I don't think I can do this," Isana said nervously as we approached the seething sea of chaos on the ground.

"Just picture your son's face in your mind," I replied. "You're doing this for him."

I saw her squinch her eyes shut tight from the corner of my eyes and whisper to herself under her breath, I wasn't sure if she was telling herself to be strong or if she was praying. Either way, we were _in it_ now. As we approached the roiling mass of hollows below us, many of them looked up, almost expectantly and I was reminded of those depictions of tanks full of swarming piranhas being presented with a bloody chop to feast on. Those Hollows that were light enough actually leaped up into the air to meet our advance, intent on sinking their claws into my determined female charge. I reacted with the reflexes ingrained into me during the course of many, many red-zone missions I had taken during my term of service in Eleventh Squad, with aim made perfect by a lot of practice I swung, unshikaied, and slashed them down the middle. They vanished into mist and powder and I quickly and easily moved onto the next. Isana screamed, even as she saw me defeating them, because there were always two more once I had destroyed one of them, and the closer we got to the ground, the more of them there were.

"Renji, _do _something!" she commanded as it began to rain Hollows.

I looked over at her in mild offense; couldn't she see that I was? Even without calling out Zabimaru to play or using flash-step I was keeping the _rather _limited number of Hollows off her back easily enough. The real challenge would come when we got down on the _ground_.

"It's gonna get worse," I told her. "I hope yer hangin' on, 'cuz we're gonna move through these guys as fast as you can make that beast of yours _move_."

She looked over at me, face under the helmet white as a Hollows mask and expression clearly aghast.

"No more time fer thinkin'," I told her firmly as we touched down and the Hollows on the ground prepared to surge in, like zombies from a movie.

I pulled Zabimaru in front of me, grinning my fiercest battle grin. Oh, I was gonna _enjoy _this!

"Roar! Zabimaru!" I shouted.

Snaketail sprang to the fore with a shout of joy and bloodlust. His fang would bite well today. The serrated blade materialized before me and I whacked the rump of Isana's mount with the flat it to get it moving. The beast sprang forward at my unspoken command and Isana clutched the low handles on the saddle before her, ducking down to keep her head low. The cool wind of the desert night here tore at her cloak as the trhomphing, springing gait of Tanner carried her at ever greater speeds into the melee of monsters.

::**_Now_**?:: Snaketail demanded, eager to merge his snake-strike-speed with my own power and show everyone what we were _really _made of.

By way of answer I unlocked and threw open wide the first of my chakra, flooding my being with reiatsu strength and channeling it into my sword which drank it in and fed it back to me. The world abruptly froze. At least that was my first perception of it, that everything around me had been frozen in place, enemies hanging in midair as though suspended from strings, Hollows froze mid-slash, Soul Reapers looking like manikins in a store window... if manikins ever fiercely slew monsters that was. On second glance, I noticed that the figures were actually still moving, but they were moving so slowly that I hadn't been able to tell it at first. Also in that second glance I noticed somethin' else, for every figure that was moving on the battlefield there was a strange sort of blue ghost-shadow of it, moving in the air in front of it at regular speed, or what seemed to be regular speed to me. As I watched those misty-blue figures I saw that they were slowly followed by the time-stop-motion of the actual physical being itself. I realized a moment later, with a jolt of elation, that I was actually able to see the next move that the people were aiming to make! Just to see if i was right about that, I pushed my blade into the path of one of the misty-blue Hollow figures and held it there waiting.I say _pushed_ because, even though the _rest _of the world looked like it was movin' at a crawl, I myself wasn't quite able to move at anything but a regular speed... the air felt strangely thick and resistant. I knew instinctively that there would be no flash-step while I used Snakey's enhanced speed perceptions. A moment later the substantial form of the Hollow followed its insubstantial blue-mist ghost and met with the edge of Zabimaru, already waiting there for it, and burst into a floating spray of powder which dissipated with fascinating slowness.

:_I really **can **see what move they are going to make before they make it_!: I realized with a dawning sense of wonder.

My movements were slower than I was accustomed to, and I couldn't flash step here in this half-world of delayed momentum, but my regular movements seemed sufficient. I moved over to the side of Isana's mount where a surge of Hollows were trying to press forward to take her down and Dusted them with a single swing of Zabimaru coiled in at rest-position. I saw a misty-blue form head straight for her neck and promptly pushed the serrated blade out to intercept. The edge of Zabimaru waiting there for it to slice it in half.

Tanner and Isana lunged forward and their speed became perceptible to me as actual _movement_. True, their movements were still a crawl compared to mine, but the mass of Hollows that surrounded us still gave me a challenge even with the added advantages of speed and foresight. It felt like I was pushing against air that felt semi-solid, as I protected Isana from all angles, first destroying all the Hollows on one side of Tanner within a radius of twenty feet, which was the extent to which I could extend the shikaied Zabimaru, then dodging round the back to kill all of the Hollows encroaching from that direction before taking to the other side. Tanner itself took care of the ones in front of it, and it was interesting to watch a fire burst being born from the front of its mouth and slowly crawl out from inside of it, roast the Hollows for ten feet in front of it and trample over the burned bone corpses like they were so much litter.

I pushed myself, feeling the energy literally _drain _from me as if were blood pouring from a wound. If I hadn't had Zabimaru to grant me his enhanced speed and extra perceptions then there would have been no way I could have been able to protect Isana from all directions at once, but I was managing to keep her enemies at bay. I paced along beside her, Zabimaru a blur and flicker in the air, myself a shadow behind him, dodging from first one side then the next, flitting through Tanners legs, kipping up over its back, the extended chain blade wove a circle of protection around the mortal woman on the back of the magical-construct beast. At what seemed like a snails pace to me, the glowing horizon drew nearer.

At a momentary lull in the fighting, when I had beat back the ever-surging tide of enemy advance enough to grab a quick second for myself, I kicked up into an axle-spin in the air, Zabimaru coiling around me, and looked out to survey the battlefield. I searched for my friends and compatriots, my reiatsu swelled and flitted over the churning crowd, searching out the energy signatures of people who were familiar to me. Behind me (and slightly to the right) I could sense the reiatsu of Reapers that I recognized from Tenth Squad, mostly lower level fighters, being led by Rangiku Matsumoto. Other lesser fighters scattered across the field and I ignored them for the most part, concentrating on the more powerful signatures. To the left, some distance away, I could sense the by-now-familiar reiatsu of Ichigo Kurosaki. There was no mistaking _that _aura, it was like trying to ignore headlights (on bright!) of on-coming traffic in the dark. Impossible to ignore. Surrounding him, a little bit dimmer but no less impressive, were the spiritual pressures of different members of the Brat Pack, the flickering fairy-lights of Orihime Inoue, the basso-strength of Sado (I forget his last name) the cool, clean blaze of the Quincy, Uryuu Ishida. So he _was _there, that was good, now I wouldn't have to go looking for him.

:_Where's Rukia_?: I wondered to myself.

She should be right there with them. She might be a full-fledged Soul Reaper, and my same age (and therefore old enough to be their mothers several times over) but she might as well be a member of the Brat Pack, she got on so well with them and all. Why the hell wasn't she there with them?

I stretched out my seeking-energy around me even more, searching out the two Spiritual Pressures that mattered to me, Rukia Kuchiki and my Captain. In a battle this size, they would _have _had to have called him in, especially since Captain was the only "expert" they had on these new Shadows on the battlefield, besides maybe myself and the missy. Oh, and perhaps that crazy Urahara bastard, but I had the feeling that the Head Captain would let Hell freeze over before he'd call on the assistance of a man he himself had exiled (however mistakenly).

:_And speaking of Shadows_...:

I sensed _those _too, farther away, near the light along the horizon that Isana and I were racing toward. They were _powerful_! More powerful that any I had faced so far. They had the kind of spiritual pressure that weighed on a person with palpable force, crushing the lungs and bowing the back, like some kind of Human-world gravity machine. All the Shadows I had faced so far in my journey had been... lesser, it seemed. They had all _still _given me a run for my money, but compared to what was waiting on the other side of the battlefield, the ones I'd fought had all been small fry.

:_So those harvesting-Shadows I've fought are more like regular Hollows, and these guys guarding the array are the equivalent of Menos Grande's or even Arrancars_,: I thought to myself, confirming a theory. Something to add to my next report to my Captain... but he'd probably already figured it out for himself.

And speaking of my Captain, I wasn't expecting the rush of relief I felt when I sensed his energy signature resonate with mine for a brief instant. He was _there_! Present with a very sizable portion of Sixth Squad. I could sense them all, officers I had trained and placed, elements sorting themselves out for the battle. It was strange how relieved and suddenly (almost) safe I felt just knowing that my Captain was there. "If the Captain was on the field, then all would be right with the world;" I was a lieutenant in the Squads and so I should be above such silly preconceived notions, but it seems to be an ingrained instinct for _any _lesser ranked Soul Reaper of the Court Guard Squads, despite the fact that Captains had been known to die in the line of duty. There persisted _instinctive _conviction that while the Captain was on the field, victory was assured. It went beyond mere hero-worship, or even loyalty to ones unit, it was something akin to awe, and I was, sadly, just as guilty of it as the next low-ranked Reaper despite the fact that I knew that no-one was perfect and that even experienced, high-ranked members of the Squads were still prone to mistakes and misjudgments.

A flicker of an instant later in real-time I sensed Rukia's reiatsu right beside her brother. An unusual place for her to be on a battlefield considering that she was officially assigned to Thirteenth Squadron, and unofficially a part of the Ichigang. Maybe she was running messenger duty. I felt Yoruichi Shihouin flicker in beside them both a moment later and knew that the cat-lady had made it there and was giving her report. All of this was taken in in the pause of a few brief seconds, then I pulled my thoughts back in on my own task and focused my concentration on protecting the mortal woman on the back of the beast. It wouldn't do to have Isana make it all this way without a single scratch on her only to have her become injured practically right under my Captain's nose because I'm not paying attention... paperwork would be the _least _of the punishments he'd have lined up for me in that case!

I swept all the Hollows from the sky and landed for a brief instant on the be-tailed rump of Tanner, slid down the tail on the soles of my boots, reaping Hollows the whole way down and then flicked myself airborne again to Reap the incoming Hollows on the right side of Isana. Their numbers were getting greater and it was becoming more difficult for me to keep ahead of them, even with my advantages. Yes, they certainly were moving slower, and I could see where they were going but I myself was not able to move at top speed. I opened my second Chackra a crack and started siphoning off power to start fueling my kido attacks. I stayed on one side with Zabimaru, clearing a swath to the left while I used kido keep the Hollows on the right side and in the air from getting to close to the woman I was protecting. Between the two, and the fire-breathing of her construct-beast, I managed to clear a path for the woman in the melee-chaos of that battlefield, and she remained unharmed.

:_But these are only ordinary Hollows_,: I told myself before I could begin to get cocky about the ease with which I toasted them all.

The real challenge was going to come when I faced something that was more powerful than an ordinary Hollow, seeing as I was still a bit pressed to stave off the tide of average monsters. If an arrancar or a Shadow appeared on the battlefield before me, things could get dicey. It was easy enough to kill the average Hollow, I had a lot of practice at it and I was good at it, but higher level fighters were a complication I wasn't looking for right then. Seeing as I was surrounded by a seething anthill of ordinary enemies, if I missed my stride and stumbled I, too, could be overtaken. I just didn't let myself consider the option of failure; we were going to make it to that array, I was going to stop those enemies, she was going to seal away the device and we were all going to go home in one piece. And that was that.

"Claim victory in your heart, and the universe will follow," I told myself.

Right, easier said than done. Still, I hadn't come all this way just to fail at it now. I looked over at the young woman in armor perched on the back of the magical construct beast. She was crouched down and what I could see of her face in the shadows of the helmet I'd made her wear was a mask of terror and yet she clung on and urged her mount to take her forward faster. She was counting on me to keep her safe, my own boss had told me to uphold the honor of Sixth Squad, so I wasn't here to fail either of them. We kept moving as the light grew towards the horizon, despite the fact that she knew that terrible enemies awaited her there. Our destination lay just a little further ahead of us.

Something else lay ahead of us too. I smirked to myself as I noted the very obvious energy signature of the Brat Pack and their Vizard friends just up ahead of me. They were right, smack in the _middle _of our way to the array. Isana, Tanner and myself were headed right, straight at 'em. The blank, slightly stupefied on Ichigo's face as he looked over and saw what looked like an armored knight on the back of fire-breathing dragon bearing down towards him was one I would probably treasure for a good long while to come. I was less amused a moment later when it looked like he might have decided that it was likely a threat of some kind. He fired off a Getsuga Tenshou in our direction and I irritatedly blocked it, cutting off my snaketail-enhanced speed for a moment to do so and flipping the hood of my cloak off so he could get a good look at me as we advanced toward his position. Luckily, the Hollows had thinned out as we got closer to the Brat Pack, so I could bring Zabimaru into blade-rest position as Isana and Tanner barreled her way right past them... knocking aside Ichigo, Chad and one of the Vizards like so many bowling pins.

"Gangway!" I yelled politely as we ran right past them.

"Hey!" Ichigo yelled in irritation, picking himself up off his ass and flashing in beside me, keeping up easily with a mere sprint.

"What the _hell_?" the kid demanded, running along beside me as I efficiently, and with now-practiced ease, kept the Hollows off the little Missy.

So far she didn't have a single scratch on her. Heh!

"Kinda busy here kid!" I told him, pushing Zabimaru to full extension and sweeping the field.

The boy at least had the good sense to make himself useful and get her other side to start reaping Hollows.

"Watcha want?" I asked him.

"Rukia's been worried sick about you," he scolded.

I tried not to feel nettled about being scolded by a brat who wasn't a _quarter _of my years.

"I wrote letters, what the hell else was I s'posed ta do?" I snapped.

"You could've come to us, we'd have helped you out, you ass!" he replied irritatedly.

"It's a good thing I didn't," I said, sighting the first of my true enemies up ahead.

I'd known they'd have to show up for this; Aizen and the rest of the Shadows had too great a vested interest in this moment to let it happen without an honor guard there to make sure everything went like it was supposed to. I intended to throw a wrench in his plans.

"Otherwise we wouldn't have a way to beat... them!" I pointed up ahead at the mountainous dark forms blotting out the building light on the horizon.

* * *

**And just think, there's more goodness still to come. Reviews are love... love me?**


	68. White Sunrise

The array gathering force and power to itself on the quasi-distant horizon resembled a slow, sunrise bleached pure white. Rising up from the white sunrise loomed five pillars of darkness, who's shadows stretched across the battlefeild coloring the washed out starkness of the battle raging around us with its own sinister darkness. These Shadowbeasts were not half-formed amalgamations, lacking refinement and definition due to lack of power, these Shadows were superior specimens of their type. Looming like mountains, thier bodies were tall and lithe, suggesting both speed and manuverablity. They had claws and scythes and bonespines and black chiton armor and certainly more teeth than any self-respecting creature outa have. I had faced down some large Hollows in my time, thoughtless beasts of many cutting-bone limbs, these Shadowbeasts were ten times the size of the largest I had ever faced and packed all the metaphysical oomph of the smallest (which in Hollow terms, were the most powerful). In short, they looked tough. In short... they looked _fun._

"What the-!" Ichigo said, pausing for a moment to take it all in.

"That's what I said the first time I saw one too," I told him.

And mine had been maybe half that size and strength. These laddies here were at full size and presumably strength and looked like they could crush mountains.

"What the hell are those?"

"_Shadows_ kid, ancient gods who have gone the Nature Spirit version of Hollow and are lookin' fer more spiritual power to take in and make them stronger," I explained quickly. "There's an array on the other side of them, powered by a bunch of helpless Quincy kids, including the missy's son, that's gonna act like the spiritual equvalent of a black hole, takin' in all the spiritual pressure in its range."

"How?" he asked next.

He actually flashed over, grabbed my arm and made me look at him. I spent a few precious seconds answering him because it was better to do it now and get his help than to have to worry about fighting off enemies and squabbling with him at the same time.

"Take out the Shadows, seal the device," I said succinctly. "Now either lead, follow, or get the hell out of my way."

I flashed off to keep up with Isana on Tanners back, luckily there was a lull in the Hollows so my absence went unnoticed. Ichigo was a half a flash-step behind me.

"Can you believe that Aizen?" I said over my shoulder to him. "He used the Espada just to butter us all up!"

Ichigo just looked at me for a moment, letting my comment sink in, and he said the only thing going through both our minds right then.

"Aw, crap."

"Yeah," I agreed shortly.

"What the hell are we supposed to do about them? I'd fight them with full power, but I haven't even landed a scratch on one of them, they keep turning into smoke and disappearing them they wallop me from behind." Ichigo said, obvious frustration in his voice.

Call me petty if you must, but I couldn't help feeling a little smug bit of elation at the fact that there was a fight I could win that the Brat couldn't.

"You're not gonna do anything but keep an eye on the missy here and keep her safe. She's our key to winning this thing," I replied absently as i reaped Hollows. "There's a big, bad mojo array on the other side of those Shadows and we don't have time to waste, so I'm gonna clear the way."

I turned my attention to the missy and said

"Missy!"

She turned her head my way to look at me. Poor thing looked terrified.

"I need you to have your binding-spell running hot."

"What are-?" she started.

I brought Zabimaru out before me.

"I'm gonna make a path," I told her. "You do your part and I'll do mine."

"You're not seriously going to-" she protested.

I wasn't listening as I unbound my third chakra and prepared to raise hell.

"Ban... _Kai_!"

With a roar Snaketail released into his final form. For some reason it was called Baboon King Zabimaru even though Babs had his own form. Maybe both of his Bankai's borrowed the others name, and the final form of Bab's shikai-bankai was called Snaketail.

:_Hey, snakey_,:: I said as I got a better look at him. ::_Yer lookin' a little different_.:

Oh it was a huge bone snake as usual, with jagged bone blades spiking off the vertebra and eyes that shone with a fierce, flaming inner light, but the mane that surrounded the back of his head made of red fur like the tuft before the head of a spear, it was now a smoke-like misty fire of light and energy, flickering and swaying with his movements. It flamed around him in a halo of crimson fire. The bones that composed the bulk of his blade were no longer the yellowish color of ancient bones, but a milky pure silver-white color, seemingly lit from within by a moonlight luminance. The serrated spikes that sprung from off the sides of his spine positively glowed with their own light, humming with pent up energy waiting to be released. The webbing of my power between the vertebra was far more powerful than anything I had managed before, it was practically bursting out at the seams.

Snakey coiled around me as if to say 'I have missed fighting with you, together let's take this asshole!' I was both surprised and not when I looked down to see that my pink fur mantle with the strand of fangs holding it closed had changed as well; instead of pink fur, the mantle had deepened in color to a crimson that matched my hair, signifying that I had unsealed my chakra and my reiatsu was at its fullest potential. I found one of my fiercest battle-grins growing on my face as I released the end of his tail. I knew instinctively that I didn't need to hold him by the tail to move him, after all, he was _my _Bankai. I launched myself up into the air as he moved underneath me and landed lightly on top of his immense bone skull.

"Let's go!" I told him and we shot out across the ground with snake-speed, making for the first of our enemies.

The massive Shadowbeast swung at us but we neatly dodged out of the way, refusing to be distracted by the promise of a good fight, and we went after the _real _target. In a pool of shimmering inky blackness flowing out from behind it lay the true form of the Shadow, an amorphous blot of darkness that was both here and not, a creature that existed inside of its own dimension and _was _the substance of its own dimension. Zabimaru and I made straight for it, utterly ignoring the calls and imprecations of the crowd of allies behind us, we could do this, I just knew we could.

"Alright, let's make this quick and clean," I muttered to him and myself.

The less time we spent in the Shadow's strange little half-world inside of itself the less amount of energy it could siphon off from me. If I was fast enough, I could beat all five of them. We plunged in.

Even though I was prepared for it, the sheer soul-numbing cold of the place still managed to catch me a little off guard. There was nothing there, no sight or sound, no color or motion, just cold and darkness everywhere. It was made worse by the steady drain on my energy as soon as I entered its world, we didn't have much time. I felt Snake tail moving underneath me somehow, a weaving side to side motion, like a water-snake swimming through a river, that carried us forward. Slowly there came the tiniest shimmer, a pinprick of light in front of me that I at first thought that I was imagining, but we drew nearer and I came to see that it was the sheilded form of the creatures heartstone. It glowed with greater luminance, throbbing like a slow heartbeat the closer we got to it.

I pulled in my power and sent it down into Zabimaru who straightened out into a bone cannon and opened his mouth to roar a blast of power that knocked the heartstone out of its place and shattered the void around us. In an eyeblink I was surrounded once again by sound and light, the chaotic world of the senses seemed _that _much more chaotic for the contrast of absolute stillness that had enfolded me before.

"By the Four Palaces of the Heavens, by the Four Pillars of the World..." I heard Isana's voice begin chanting around me even as the shards of darkness melted in to misty black and tried to reform themselves, gravitating piece by piece to the larger shadow as the Shadowbeast above it began to morph whole once more and become substantial. We didn't have much time. I launched myself at the Shadowbeast, to buy the little missy time to finish her spell.

Zabimaru bit off its right fore-appendage while I took out its left with a spell. It howled with thwarted rage even as I heard the despairing scream of both Shadow and Shadowbeast as the final words of Isana's spell wrapped itself around its heartstone, encasing it in a glowing orb. A river of inky blackness flowed towards the stone, like a genie going back into his lamp, the stone then was sealed, enveloped by a sphere of perfect clear crystal.

"Bind!" she shouted, completing the spell.

An instant later the crystal sphere with its sealed Shadow inside dropped harmlessly to the ground. I turned halfway and gave her an approving nod. She still looked terrified, but it also seemed she'd gained a little confidence. She sat taller and straighter on the back of her beast and her posture was one of readiness.

"Good work!" I called to her. "Keep it up!"

"Don't you 'good work' _me, _mister!" she snapped back at me, sounding angry. "You scared ten years off the end of my already shortened lifespan! When I get you down on the ground I'm going to rip off your head, tear open your skull and scoop out what few brains you have to use as cat-food, you red haired ape!"

"Hear that Zabimaru? She called us a red haired ape!" I said in amusement even as the two of us sprang at the next target, side-swiping the Shadowbeast along the way and landing a final lash with the flick of his tail which had turned into a tip of barbs made of energy.

We dove into the next Shadow, swimming quickly through the smooth cold blackness toward the throbbing warmth of its heartstone that I could scent before me we quickly executed another bone cannon as soon as we were within range, the darkness shattered all around us and turned to misty rivulets trying to reform itself around its heartstone again but before it could, Isana started chanting her binding spell. A few short moments later the Shadow was contained within its own heartstone, trapped and sealed away inside a sphere of crystal.

I looked back behind me to check and see if my charge was alright and it seemed that I had nothing to worry about. The Ichigang, and others, had caught on quickly to what was going on, or at least it seemed that they knew a sudden turn to their advantage when they saw one, for they had all surrounded Isana in a circle of protection with their blades (or whatever they used) out. There was Orihime on one side of Isana with Ichigo next to her guarding her right flank while Chad and a couple of Vizards, the green-haired one, Hisagi's former hero, and the one that looked a little like Lt. Ise. guarded the rear. On the other side were Ishida, the remainder of those Vizards on the feild and... Rukia blurred into view.

I gave her a quick wave to say hello, but decided that business before personal interests was the order of the day so I called over

"Hey! Quincy! Get over here, this is your fight!"

The boy looked over at me through his lenses uncomprehendingly.

"Your arrows dumbass!" I said impatiently. "They can kill them... well, that's the _theory _anyway. Get up here!"

Fortunately he didn't need to be told any more than twice. He blurred into whatever the hell it was that Quincies called flash-step and reappeared a moment later beside me on the tip of Zabimaru's skull.

"Miss Rukia is ready to tear bloody strips off you," Ishida informed me quietly even as I mentally gave the command for Snaketail to move forward and head for the next Shadow.

"She'll have to get in line," I said flippantly, already moving us forward to jump into the next Shadow.

Ishida laid in cover fire as we passed the Shadows guardian Shadowbeast and I explained just before we went in.

"The void siphons off your life energy so you want to make this quick. Aim for the Heartstone, you'll know it when you see it."

And the next instant, we were in. As usual it was cold, with not sight or sound or sensation, just cold blackness. The time was a little different in that I could feel the reiatsu of the person next to me even if I couldn't see or hear him. I could smell him though. I mentally dismissed his scent and concentrated on the smell of the Shadow's heartstone up ahead and to the left, I gave Zabimaru the mental command to move forward and we glided through the darkness like fish in the ocean. Or I assume we did anyway, I couldn't actually see it; I could tell however that the Heartstone was getting closer because the scent was getting stronger and so was the siphon. I felt a sudden spike in Ishida's energy and knew he had fired off an arrow. Just then, there was a sudden flare of white in the darkness, streaking toward the heartstone like a comet blazing across the night sky. The explosion when it hit directly on target shattered the shadow-world into thousands of pieces all around us, which fell down like rain in black shimmer as the real world reasserted itself.

I looked around me, no heartstone, _nothing _of the Shadow left. It appeared that I had been right, a Quincy's spirit arrows had the power to _truly _destroy a Shadow.

"Looks like I was right," I said, looking over at the boy who looked just a tad bewildered and out of sorts. "It's your arrows that can bring true death even to ancient Elemental Spirits. Looks like you're about to become Shadow Enemy Number One, if you're not already."

Ishida blinked at me for a long myopic minute, as if trying to figure out what I was saying.

"Go back and protect yer friends," I told him. "Right now, binding them is better than completely destroying them, so Miss Isana and I will take it from here."

Ishida blurred back out and went to go tell the others what had happened. While I dove right for the next target. The Shadowbeast on this one was waiting for me and going to make me fight for every single inch I gained. Zabimaru's spines bristled out and his bone vertebrates glowed with a moonlit brilliance, echoing my anticipation of a good battle. As he dove head first at the beasts left side I surfed down his back on my feet, firing off spells to herd our enemy farther to the right while the massive snake-form of my snaketail's Bankai began coiling around the Shadowbeast like a predatory vine come to life. The beast struggled and became even more enmeshed, and somehow, with that hive-mind state that came with the Bankai, I knew that this was what we'd been waiting for. I wasn't sure if it was Zabimaru who gave the command or my own mental self, but I unleashed a sudden, massive flood of spiritual pressure straight into my bankai. The spines which had acted as lesser versions of the serrated blades of Zabimaru's shikai form suddenly bristled out, bursting in length to three times their usual size. The Shadowbeast, which had been wrapped in Zabimaru's coils like an animal inside a thorny bush found itself suddenly impaled by a thousand gleaming lances of energy. Shadowbeasts, to my (admittedly very limited) knowledge, couldn't bleed, but if they could, this one would have looked like a seive. The Shadowbeast flickered out for a minute and that when Zabimaru and I sprang for the Shadow itself. We disappeared into its black void again and went after the heartstone.

After three Shadows in rapid succession plus the unleashing of my Bankai, I was starting to feel just a tiny bit peaked. The spirit-energy-siphoning power of the void inside the Shadows didn't help either, but I was far from tired, in fact, I was expecting my second wind any moment now. I unleashed a blast from the Bone Cannon on the heartstone and the world came bursting into being around it, but after having made the transition between the two a few times before this, the transition was no longer quite so shocking.

"...The Four Pillars of the World," I heard Isana start chanting.

"One more to go," I muttered looking straight in front of me at the looming form of the next shadowbeast.

I felt the presence of the other Shadow behind me fade as miss Isana bound it up and I was just about to give the command for Zabimaru to move forward when a spiritual presence as familiar to me as my own, and just as vital, flickered into being beside me. I can't say I was entirely unsurprised when I felt a hand reach out and smack me upside the back of my head.

"Hello Rukia, so nice ta see ya again too," I muttered dryly. " I missed these affectionate greetings after so long a time being apart."

"Where the hell have you been?" she snapped demandingly at me.

I peered over at her.

"You know where I've been," I said plainly, a little taken aback that I would have to point out

"I sent you letters."

"Why didn't you come find me?" she demanded next, sounding hurt and worried. "You go out on some day-trip to Rukongai and the next thing I know Kuukaku Shiba is knocking on our door saying 'sorry I lost your Soul Reaper, I think he's dead in the attack.' And then I get a note from Uruhara saying he's pretty sure you're alive but you're going off on some vacation with some Mortal woman I don't even know-"

It still amazed me how she could manage to combine that wounded bunny look with a look that seemed to be one of her deciding where the best place to start tearing strips off me was.

"And instead of coming to find me so we can figure things out together you go off on your own to someplace no-one has even heard of before, just running around doing whatever the hell you please. I get back a couple of letters from you that read like something from out of someone's vacation diaries!"

"Hey, at least you got letters," I muttered, irritated. "And just remember, every time you point your finger there's three more pointing right back at you."

After all, would it have killed her to try and find a way to send me one tiny little note when she disappeared in the Mortal Realm for months on end? I went to Captain Ukitake's Squad hall every day for nearly a month to choke down some vile-tasting hell-brew, talk about the weather and try to find a clever way to steer the conversation toward Rukia to see if there's been any word from her.

"This is not about me," she replied.

Did they take women aside at birth and teach them how to do that?

Before the two of us could get started on a good bicker to settle the matter we were rudely interrupted by a shrieking roar from the Shadow in front of us that seemed to make the air shiver. It grated up and down my spine like nails on slate. As one we turned to face the enemy before us, a blot of blackness against the lighter red-twilight sky of Hueco Mundo, and the array that it was standing guard in front of suddenly flared a little brighter. The spell was starting to activate.

The cries of and sobs of frightened children carried faintly through the air over the sounds of the pitched battle going on behind us. I'd probably never admit it to anyone but I had a soft spot for women and kids, and the idea of any dark, evil thing wantin' ta put the hurt on either of them fer no good reason but its own gain really pushed on some good versus evil hot button in the back of my brain.

"This one's goin' down," I growled, now intently focused on the enemy before me.

I could sort it all out with Rukia later, you would have thought by now that she'd have learned what the priorities on a battlefield were.

"I'd love to be able to stick around and chat with you Rukia, but could we shelve this for later?" I pointed up ahead of us at the Shadow with its guardian Shadowbeast blocking the path to the array.

She honestly looked like she wanted to say 'no, we're going to talk about this now!' but she subsided, though not without a glare in my direction. Rukia did not like being denied, and she had clearly lined up her argument inside her own head and didn't want to be sidetracked from what she had to say to me.

"Off you go," I said pointedly, shooing her off _my _Zabimaru's head.

"I'm not going any where," she snapped back, drawing her sword.

I thought about trying to argue with her about it but abruptly we were out of time. The array, which had been little more than a dim glow behind the Shadow, sort of like the lights of a city-scape brightening the night sky above it, suddenly flared into the brilliance of the sun at midday. The kids started crying in fear, I could hear them, and the Shadowbeast seemed to grow in size and ferocity, like a cat fluffing out its fur to appear more threatening. I was dismayed a little but ultimately unsurprised to sense the presence of Miss Isana draw closer to Zabimaru's side.

"Renji!" she called up to me. "I'm going to shut down the array!"

I nodded, partly in acknowledgment and partly to myself. I wouldn't expect anything less from the woman. Diving inside the Shadow and blasting out its heartstone wouldn't do any good right then since the missy would be concentrating her power on sealing away the keystone of the array just like she was supposed to, and to my knowledge she couldn't fire off two of those spells in rapid succession like Rukia could. So I said

"I'll keep the Shadowbeast busy."

* * *

**Of course he will...**

**Thank you so much for all the wonderful reveiws. I'm glad everyone likes the story so far, there's still more action yet to come I promise you.  
**


	69. Scatter

"I'll keep the shadowbeast busy."

The shadowbeast before us was twice the size of a Menos Grande, and apparently unlike with Hollows, (where the reverse was true) the larger Shadows and their puppet shadowbeasts got, the greater the power and strength they brought to the field. The shadowbeast before us was not only huge, but weird-looking. It looked like someone had taken a great black scorpion the size of a warehouse, with scythe-like fore-pincers, a backward-springing tail with a stinger on its tip and six or eight long, spindly legs that clawed and pounded into the hard sands and gravel of our particular place in Hueco Mundo but instead of having a regular head, the shadowbeast had about seven of them on long flexible necks covered in armored scales with long wide maws big enough to swallow not one but several people whole.

One of which roared at me and belched out a great gout of blue-black fire in my general direction.

:_Oh that is just so not fair_...: I thought distantly in that timeless second that it took the stream of fire to travel through the air in my direction.

"Hado 47 shield wall!" Rukia snapped, sending up the Soul Reaper equivalent of one of Orihime Inoue's protective shields in front of us. The fire billowed around us, the heat of it brushing against my skin but we remained unburnt by the flames. Useful having her around.

I was a man of my word and not about to let some fire-breathing shadowbeast stop me, so with a savage cry, Zabimaru and I coiled and sprang at our target. One of his many mouths was open and ready to receive even as the shadowbeast blurred into motion, one of its long, massive limbs slugging away and crashing into my bankai with all the force of a pile-driver into a wall. Zabimaru's fangs sank into the shadowbeasts now-substantial form at the join where all of the beasts seven necks met the wide flat carapace of the body. I slid down his back as he slithered over our enemy's carapace, wrapping himself in coils to tangle between the many legs and forelimbs of the massive shadowbeast. The main body of it struggled and thrashed but the heads of the beast were the real threat. They swerved and bit and breathed fire, trying frantically to hit me, for they must have sensed that if they got rid of _me_, they got rid of Zabimaru. I ducked and dodged and wove around multiple attacks coming from many different directions always keeping and ear out for Isana's chanting.

"Shakahou!" I shouted, lining up a spell to knock out one of the heads but the beast breathed a gout of flame at me, intercepting my kido blast and knocking it aside. I kept moving, firing off shots whenever I had an opening but my meager skills at Kido ( I was only firing off spells that used power from my second chakra level, trying to keep some strength in reserve for later in case things suddenly went south.

"First Dance, Tsukishiro!" Rukia shouted, aiming a pillar of ice directly at one of the heads of the Shadow beast. The head iced over (much to my surprise) and froze in place, unable to attack me any more. Alright!

I flashed Rukia a quick grin of thanks over my shoulder even as I dodged another strike by one of the numerous heads left.

"Shakaho!" I shouted, releasing another red blast of power at the nearest head and in a stroke of luck I managed to hit one of its eyes.

It bellowed in pain and whipped its head on its long neck around violently. The ice on the iced-over head begant to crackle and erupted into steam as a long flare of blue-black fire shot out from its mouth. I flipped up into the air to dodge out of the way of the blast only to have two of the many heads attack me from opposite directions, reaching the apex of my leap I began to fall back down twoards the earth and into the path of the open maws. I flared out with my reiatsu to slow my decent just enough for one othe heads to pass underneath me by a hair. I caught myself by one hand on the top of its elongated head and pushed off gathering in my power and slinging out a spell with a natural ease for the first time in perhaps _ever_.

"Shakahou!" I shouted, aiming for the fragile spot where the neck meets the head and I hit it! That particular head froze, stunned, in just the right position for the head coming from the other way to crash into it. And it did. What was even better was that the other head had its jaws open to breathe fire on me and ended up not only burning one of its other heads but having some of the flame rush back on it, blinding it momentarily.

"Hado, thirty three, Binding chain!" Rukia shouted, unleashing a mass of binding reiatsu to coil around the shouts of both heads like snakes.

Speaking of snakes, Zabimaru was just about in position. He gave one last heave of his great form, coiling about the central torso of the Shadowbeast, and gave me the mental signal.

I closed my eyes for a single moment, gathering in my strength and unlocked my next chakra, sending a flood of fresh power into Zabimaru, he glowed like moonlight for a long moment, the blades spiking off his vertebrates flared and elongated suddenly, piercing the shadowbeast like a thousand spears from all around. As a coup de grace, Zabimaru gave a sudden jerk, tearing the Shadowbeasts ephemeral form in long striations. The air rang out with a great keening wail, like the sound of tearing metal and screeching glass, behind which I heard Isana shouting against the wind coming off the array that had picked up during the course of our battle.

"...By the powers of the Four Great Courts," she chanted in a shout. "I command it... **_Bind_**!"

The array just in front of us had been glowing like lights off from a city until she started binding the keystone. I could tell that the spell itself was struggling against her for Isana's own reiatsu, which was pretty minor most of the time, flared out with unexpected strength and then focused in on her spell with the intensity of sunlight through a magnifying lens. The array suddenly _flared _with blinding brilliance. Lines and sigils of power that had written themselves on the ground in light started erasing themselves erasing themselves from the outside of the circle inward, like a ripple of light in reverse. I saw the keystone of the spell in the middle, as big as both of my fists put together, pulsing with white power trying to struggle against the binds of the magic that Isana was putting around it, but she held firm and the magic had no choice but to obey her will. There were five pillars of light around the inner circle of the spell with the tiny slumped forms of the missing children circled around them, weeping in terror, they winked out liked snuffed candles as the last of the lines in the array faded and were drawn into the central keystone, which was then written about, encircled with Isana's own binding spell. There came one last final flare of light, like a beast in its death-throes, and a burst of power that knocked everyone nearby to thier knees, even me, and orb of crystal formed around the keystone, sealing the last of its power away safely inside of it, then then all went deadly quiet.

I looked around, Isana slumped a bit forward in exhaustion at having accomplished what must have been the magical equivalent of playing tug-of-war with an ox, but bless her heart she stayed put in the saddle. Attagirl. Everything was still for a moment, both sides holding their breath to see what happened. I looked over at Isana, still, somehow, miraculously perched on top of Tanners back.

"Did we just win?" I asked her.

"Don't jinx it," she replied.

As if that were some kind of signal, the Hollows nearest us just suddenly went apeshit, and attacked with maddened berzerker fury the nearest target they could get to. The shadowbeast I'd just defeated was down but not out (on account of my not having gotten to and taken out the heartstone in the Shadow controlling it) and it blurred into black smoke and reformed itself with a flare of darkness, fresh for the fight and more than willing to go another round. Again, this was just not fair.

"Renji!" Isana yelled to me as I pulled strength from Zabimaru strength enhancement to block the creature's opening swing from one of its fore-pincers. Couldn't forget about those. One of its heads reformed and breathed blue-black fire at me.

"What?" I snapped back at her.

"I can't bind its heartstone!" she yelled weakly back at me.

I could hear the tremor of exhaustion in her voice and the edge of a pant at the ends of her words. Binding the array must have taken a lot out of her.

"What?" I yelped even as I continued to fend off the shadowbeast before me.

What the hell was I supposed to do now?

"I've used up too much of my strength binding the Array's keystone," she explained. "I don't have enough strength left to fight with. Please, help me get to my son!"

I sighed inwardly. I couldn't turn my back on a cry like that, besides, I'd given my word.

"Leave it to me, Missy!" I said.

We were so close! The end was literally in sight; her boy was only about the length of an American football field away from us. All we had to do was just get through this last Shadow and we could grab the kid an' git. Isana urged her mount forward, kneeing him into a full frontal charge, making directly for the Shadow before us. I pushed Zabimaru out to full extension, mowing right over top of and momentarily flattening the weakened shadowbeast, in the process making a bridge over the inky-black Shadow behind its guardian puppet.

"Hyaaah!" Isana cried, urging Tanner to ever greater speeds as the great two legged draconian beast galloped forward, its beclawed hind feet striking down on the back of the first vertebrates of the snaketail. Hollows that had made it past the party of fighters ringed up and guarding our flanks behind us, sprang at us through the air. I simply pulled off one of Zabimarus spikes from among the profusion of them he had growing out of his spine and used it as an impromptu sword (hey, he was my bankai after all). With swift efficiency I started clearing the way with it, running slightly before Tanners gallop to catch anything that might think of standing in our way.

"There!" Isana cried joyfully. "I can see him! I see my son!"

She urged Tanner even faster and I kept the way before her clear as we ran over the back of my bankai, (which assuredly was a personal first for me). Once over his back, I mentally commanded his form up and around in front of us to help me clear a path. We were nearly there.

The way before us had seemed completely clear and everything was at last going our way, which was why I was suddenly very much _not _surprised when things took a turn for the worst. Out of the stark moonlit pale of the sands before us there suddenly popped one tiny little poppet of a shadow. The little critter came to about mid-thigh on me and was vaguely man-shaped with no real distinguishing features, blobby and dark like a half-finished clay fgureine. It shouldn't have posed much of a threat, but my suspicious nature was willing to bet that even a tiny one of these Shadows could pack a bit of a wallop. I sent Zabimaru in to flatten it, which he did quite well. But that wasn't the end of it. Oh no. Popping up from out of the sand, like little killer daisies, there came to be an entire shrieking horde of the little buggers.

Surprise, surprise.

Undeterred, Isana kept urging Tanner forward. Her son was in sight, there was no way she was going to stop now, no matter who or what was in her way.

"Renji! I'm going, cover me!"

I didn't need an obedience collar to put me into a good fight. I sent Zabimaru careening around in front of us, knocking them aside and impaling them with his spikes while i kept the ones that slipped through and went after Miss isana at bay with my improvised sword. But the little demons were quick and the leaped and clambered over Zabimaru's massive snake body, even as reiatsu flared out from in between his vertebrates to fry some of them like bugs on a bug zapper. My bankai undeniably was huge and powerful, but there were just so damn many of the little bastards and they kept _multiplying_!

Tanner was quick but not quite quick enough, and a few of them scrabbled up his legs or tail, those I sliced apart with my bone sword, knocking them off before they could reach my charge but frankly we were cutting it closer than I liked. Zabimaru continued to flatten, stab, and fry the little shadelings like some sort of shadow-killing juggernaut, but they kept coming.

Not only did the little demons keep coming but when two or more of them got past my Bankai and close enough to do some damage they started merging together! When they merged they gained twice thier original size and strength.

:_And yet again, so not fair_!:

"I'm getting damned tired of this!" I snarled as thee shadelings merged together into a shadow-critter half again as tall as me, wielding a long, black lance and heading straight for Miss Isana. I blocked its attack with my bone sword and countered, slicing it six ways to market and feeling satisfied when it faded to black dust.

"Second Dance Hakuren!" Rukia said from one side of me, abruptly freezing all of the shadelings that were clambering over Zabimaru spine, trying to get to us. Her attack stalled them long enough to give my bankai the instant breather he needed to let a flare out from between all of his segments and blast them all to black dust. We moved on to the next knot of them, the next knot out of many.

"Hey Renji, you look like you could use a hand," Rukia said to me.

She had that little note of smug condecension she got whenever she had done something useful in battle, but I let her have her fun... there was plenty of it to go around it seemed.

"Thanks Short Girl!" I called back to her even as Isana and I surged toward our destination.

Rukia took one flank and I the other, while the enormous form of the snaketail plowed through in front and we fought our way through an ant mound of shadelings that grew in size strength and number seemingly without end to them.

"So what's the deal with you running off with some mortal, Renji?" Rukia demanded of me even as we struggled to hold back the seeping tide of shadelings. Yeah, one hit and they were toast, but there were just so many damned many of them!

"Are we really talking about this now?" I asked her incredulously.

"I should have known you'd fall for some battle-hardened Valkyrie," Rukia said, gesturing to the woman in elven armor perched attop a (litterally) firey steed.

"I haven't fallen for anyone!" I replied, irritated.

"How else could you explain that you'd just ditch your friends and your duties to go play knight to some mortal woman without even a thought to the people you were leaving behind," she accused me. "I never fgured you for the sort to just loose his head over a girl, and a mortal at that."

Was I being too hopeful to think that Rukia sounded just a bit jealous?

I was about to reply to the accusation when I felt Isana gather power and shout a command. There was a massive explosion of fire in front of us that spread out in a quick flare, dusting all of the shadelings within its circumference, we sprinted right on through it and left it to fade out behind us.

"I'm not an ordinary mortal," Isana called down to Rukia from her seat on her beasts back. "And we have other things to be concerned about, so I want you two to shelve the discussion for later and concentrate on keeping alive long enough to rescue those poor children."

I had the feeling that the rebuke, while said to both of us, was aimed more at Rukia, who was, in fact, picking a fight in the middle of a battle zone. I wondered, breifly, if it would have been worth the extra trouble that would surely follow me sticking my tongue out at Rukia.

"Who died and made her my mother?" I heard Rukia grumble even as she focused her attention back on the battle in front of her. The going was slower than I would have liked, but we were making progress steadily.

That was when the mass of shadelings all abruptly changed tactics. They all started to dance crazily to the beat of a drum that only they could hear, they trilled and pounded their feet and the ground beneath our feet began to shake. Miss Isana brought Tanner up short, causing me to nearly crash into her. I called Zabimaru in and brought him back to shikai, holding the segmented serrated blade out before me. I could feel Rukia on the other side of Tanner, calling her own blade Sode No Shiraiyuki into battle. We froze in place as we all fought to maintain our balance as the sand shifted beneath us, worse still, the already sizable number of the little demons abruptly began to multiply yet again as their dance called yet more of their kind from out of the soil!

"Got any brilliant ideas?" Rukia called over to me.

There was always... _that_.

I hadn't wanted to bring my "secret weapon" out so quickly, but in a situation like this, it really was the best and most efficient solution. Hikari Senpuu Higyou would make short work of the shadeling armada.

"Buy me a minute," I called over to her.

I walked out in front of the mounted woman I was protecting and Rukia, standing with perfect calm between them and the massing army of pygmy shadows. The enemy made a hissing noise at me like a thousand tiny steam kettles, and I stared back at them in challenge, a feirce grin snarling back at thier might in defiance. The wind blew my unruly tail out behind me like a battle flag, my cloak also caught in the wind snapping crisply as I brought my sword horizontally before me, preparing to summon Zabimaru's _other _form.

I was therefore completely unprepared for a sudden presence materializing at my side from out of _no-where_. I nearly lost my composure and jumped a mile out of my skin when a familiar voice spoke almost seemingly directly into my ear.

"Lieutenant."

:_Gaaah! Why can't he at least warn a guy before he just **appears **from out of no-where_?:

There had been no warning nudge of reiatsu, no whisper of movement, he was just suddenly _there_.

His coat was a pristine white, like the chaos and disorder of the battlefeild wouldn't dare have the temerity to land on his perfectly pressed personage. And he looked more like he was going for a leisurely stroll through his estate's gardens than he did like he was facing an enemy which outnumbered him by only about a few _thousand_.

"Hm," he said, looking at the massive horde beside him as if they were something of only mild interest to him.

He didn't say anything else, and his face was its usual marble-like statue of icy-cool aloofness as he calmly and unhurriedly brought his hand to his sword, and, with patient deliberation, flicked it loose and drew it with a smooth economy of motion.

"Renji..." Isana said urgently, sounding justifiably anxious about the mass of shadelings creeping in around us.

It might have been my imagination but I could have swore that I saw Kuchiki's shoulders twitch for an instant before he brought the sword before him and coolly murmured the words

"Scatter, Senbonzakura."

The silver blade shattered into thousands of tiny glinting, rosy flakes that began to swirl lazily around him, seemingly untroubled by anything. The air itself stilled, seeming to hold its breath, abruptly the petals of Senbonzakura snapped into a circular cloud, whirling around us in a tightly packed mass that was as beautiful as it was deadly.

Byakuya Kuchiki did nothing more than give a casual flick of the fingers on his sword-hand when the circle of whirling, dancing petals exploded outwards in a deadly ring, reducing any enemy that they came into contact with to dust. A bare moment later the cherry-blossom blades circled in on the blade-less handle and solidified into the plain, curved silver katana blade that was any Reaper-sword in its quiescent state. With one smooth, unhurried motion my captain sheathed his sword. Where there had once been an enemy of untold thousands before us there was now a few, scattered mounds of black dust. Even I had to admit that it was

:_Call a spade a spade Renji_,: I told myself.

Pretty freaking cool!

Without a word or a glance in either direction, which was _entirely _typical of him, Byakuya Kuchiki stepped forward, walking calmly through the now-empty space before us toward the place where the array had been a moment ago. The two of us, myself and my erstwhile mortal burden, just followed after him.

"Whoa," Isana murmured into the dead silence.

"Yeah," I agreed.

"He just-" she said, gesturing all around her at the mounds of black sand that had a moment ago been a rather sizeable army, clearly at a loss for words.

"And that's why he's the Captain," I said.

I was nearly dying of curiosity to see if, even after crossing the river Lethe between lifetimes and having her memories of him erased, there might be something that Isana might instinctively recognize about him so I casually looked over at her, studying her face through the lines of the helmet.

She was smitten. There was no other way to describe it. In the middle of a battlefield, just mere feet away from achieving a goal that had dragged her from her nice, safe mortal existence and sent her fighting gateway-by-gateway across strange new worlds, facing downing immortal beings, learning to control new spells and new magics and testing her courage, endurance and fortitude to the limit… all she could see was him.

"Renji… when you mentioned how strong your Captain was, you never said that he was so… so striking," she said, sounding just a little breathless.

Her gaze was locked on Captain's retreating form and she had this soft, melting look in her eyes. It looked like her cheeks had some color to them too, but that could have just been from battle-exertion. Somehow I doubted it though.

I honestly didn't know what the hell I was supposed to say to that so I didn't say anything, just led the beast with isana on its back to finally, finally pick up her child and put this whole problem back in the mortal world where it belonged. But I already knew deep down in my bones that things were not going to be that simple.

* * *

**A thousand apologies for taking so long to get this posted. My computer got a virus, it was one of those pernicious ones that delve way down deep into your hardrive and won't show up on a regular scan... but I knew it was there. Me ad my antivirus went hunting. Okay, it sounds more exciting than it was... basically it was long hours of frustration but I finally got it fixed so that I could update. Yay! Hope it was worth the wait.  
**

**On another note, do you all realize that on the twenty-sixth, this will be the one-year anniversary of my posting up chapters of this fic? That's quite a mile stone! I wanted to be able to post the last chapter on that day, but that's obviously not going to happen... it is fitting however, that the next chapter I'll be posting, on this baby's birthday, is the real turning point. I won't give too much away, but prepare yourselves for the advent of Aizen. Next chapter's going to have the good stuff. Look forward to it please!  
**


	70. Point of No Return

I saw the small figures of the children we had come to rescue up ahead of us some of which were beginning to stir and rise up from the ground. The collapse of the array must have come as quite a shock to them.

"Alex!" Isana cried, moving to urge her mount forward.

"Mom?" one of the boys, a young one of about six or seven years old.

"I'm here! Mommy's come for you!"

"Momma!" he yelled, looking eagerly around, unable to recognize his mother in the form of the armored warrior covered by a helm and mounted on some strange fire-breathing creature out of a legend no-doubt.

She was about to urge her beast into a gallop to close the last few yards remaining when Captain Kuchiki suddenly twitched into a defensive stance, and an instant later I felt it too. A spiritual presence so powerful it was its _own _gravity, pressing down on top of us. A very familiar presence as well as a powerful one. My heart clenched with dread. I was wondering when he was going to show up.

"Missy!" I grabbed the reigns and pulled her back as the supremely confident form of former Captain Sousuke Aizen appeared in the air before is, staring down at us from on high with a superior little smirk that I just wanted to use Zabimaru to wipe off from his face.

"How interesting," he said coolly in that smooth voice of his.

"I come by to see the results of my little test only to find that the conditions of the experiment I have set up with such careful attention have been meddled with."

I was about to shoot back a smart-assed remark when Isana asked me

"Who is that?"

My voice was a growl as I replied

"Aizen."

"Since you have shown yourself," Byakuya Kuchiki calmly said into the silence. "You are under arrest for treason against the Thirteen Court Guard Squads. You shall lay down your weapon and allow yourself to be brought to trial."

Aizen looked at my Captain like he was a particularly interesting kind of bug and his voice sounded bemused in a superior way as he replied

"Are you still under the delusion that you can arrest me? How quaint. I have moved beyond your power, beyond your reach. Your pathetic skills and petty concerns are of as little interest to me as the concerns of a beetle is of interest to a human. However..."

Aizen's piercing gaze shifted to center on Isana, sitting vulnerably on Tanner's back beside me and I instinctively placed myself in between her and him. I had promised to protect her, and I was a man of my word.

"It seems that there is a new power on the field, and this is of interest to me."

"Back off asshole, yer not gettin' 'er!" I snapped at him.

"Such crude language toward your former mentor, Renji," he chided me gently, shaking his head slightly as if in disappointment.

"You two know each other? What does he mean mentor?" Isana asked me.

"I explained earlier how he betrayed the Court Guard Squads, well back before we knew he was hiding his true colors he was a man I looked up to and wanted to be like."

I brought my sword defensively in front of my, silently signaling my will to stand against him and defend her.

"Mortal woman!" Aizen said, snapping his fingers.

Abruptly snake-like tendrils of darkness appeared beside the form of the boy that Isana had been through so much danger and strife to rescue. They wrapped around him, snapping into place in the form of rope-like bonds made of shadow and he was lifted into the air to hang, struggling, near Aizen. I snarled and tensed, preparing to strike at the enemy and rescue the boy.

"Alex!" she shouted in fear and alarm.

"Mom!" he called, tears streaming down his face. "Momma!"

More shadow-bonds appeared out of thin air beside each of the twenty or so children in the array and tied them all up. Those that had regained consciousness, mostly the older kids, whimpered or sobbed in fear.

"Aizen! Let the kid go!" I shouted at him.

He looked about as unimpressed with my command as he _would _be. He ignored me completely and addressed Isana

"Mortal woman, if you agree to come with me quietly without resistance, I will agree to let these children go. I give you my personal word that you will be reunited with your son."

Oh they'd be reunited alright... as prisoners under his watch. I saw immediately where he was going with this and opened my mouth to refuse for her when she spoke up from behind me

"I don't believe that you are acting in good faith," Isana said in a clear, carrying voice. "After all, what wise woman would believe the word of a traitor, a man who has foresworn every oath he has made for the sake of his own personal gain?"

"Allow me to state it another way then," Aizen said smoothly. "What choice do you have?"

I raised Zabimaru a fraction of an inch before me and snarled at him, signifying that she had options, not great ones, but options all the same.

Aizen chuckled at me and gave a look that resembled pity

"You? _You_, Renji Abarai? You think you can defend this woman against me? This mortal who means nothing to you... when you couldn't even stop me from taking away the woman you love?"

I really wished he'd shut up already.

"Leave the wench alone Aizen, she's got nuthin' ta do with this," I said, ignoring the issue of my own helplessness for now.

"Renji," Isana said with a calm and collected note in her voice that instantly had me worried.

She sounded like she had Made Up Her Mind, and when a woman Makes Up Her Mind, there's nuthin' for it, yer done.

"Don't harm my son, Mister Aizen," she called over. "If you will do as you say and let these children go, then I'll go with you quietly."

"Missy-!" I protested, moving to stop her.

She pulled her hood back and reached up to take off her helmet, pulling her thick, dark hair loose and unbound from where she had restrained it to fit inside the helm and sending it cascading past her shoulders and down her back for the breeze to pick up for a moment before it died. She looked down at me with this expression of such gentle strength, as if she understood completely what I was thinking and was glad of it, even as she knew that she was going to do exactly what she felt was for the best. I sensed more than saw my boss stiffen beside me as she turned her gaze our way.

I had never imagined that it could happen, but out of the corner of my eye I watched as all color drained from Captain Byakuya Kuchiki's face. There was a low noise of pain and shock pulled involuntarily out of him and he literally rocked back on his feet, the impact of seeing her striking him like a physical blow. Her own face was unreadable as her eyes met with his and locked, there was an indefinable aura of sadness surrounding them, like two lovers parted and looking at each other from across a river. Even though i didn't always like her, I still considered her as someone it was my responsibility to protect, so I threw my own two cents in.

"Don't do it," I urged her, reaching for her sleeve to restrain her as she moved to slide off the side of the beast.

Isana's face carried a serene resolution. She was not going to be swayed by anyone, least of all me. She gave me a soft, martyr's smile and said

"These children have been through so much already, and they have no-one else to step into the fire for them. At least this way I'll be with my son and can protect him a little. Any mother would do the same."

She dismounted and pressed the jewel on her right wrist and the elven armor I had won for her began to fold away into itself, exactly like magic, leaving her in only her travel clothes. She looked firmly up at me and I felt the power she weilded tug at my collar, the one she and that damned mountain spirit had used to bind me into her service.

"This will be the last command I give you Renji Abarai," she said.

Choiceless, I knelt before her to hear her last directive.

"Don't try to stop me."

I was geas-bound to obey. Isana left me holding Tanners reigns and turned toward Aizen, walking toward where he held her son without a single backward glance. I turned my anger at being made helpless on a handier target, and shouted over to Aizen

"What are you after really? You didn't just come her ta lord it over us, so what's yer game Aizen?"

"It's almost cute the way you think I'll tell you everything because you ask. Even if I explained it to you Renji, you wouldn't understand it. You have always been such a simple-minded, albeit extemely hard-headed creature."

I couldn't argue with that. Then I blinked for a moment as a flash of inspiration struck me. A singular, unexpected flash of insight into a weakness of Aizen's that could be exploited. I _was _a simple creature, I always had been; simple-minded, straight-forward and hard-working was how most people thought of me and they were not wrong. But that was also what people had come to _expect _of me.

**_"Renji," the voice of my mother-figure Amber came back to me in a flash of memory._**

**_I was a young boy helping her out by running messages across town for Barai House into the dangerous areas where the really violent gangs made thier lair._**

**_"I will not tell you to be careful, for in a place such as the ones where you will go today caution is redundant. The only help that I can give you to enable you to survive the trip is this... the best thing you can ever do is to play into what people expect of you. If you know what they expect to see, and you can give them what they expect, then that means you are able to shape the way they see you."_**

:_Aizen looks at me and he sees the hard-working, single-minded and somewhat stupid man he's been accustomed to all these years. He sees a man who concentrates solely on his own goal to the exclusion of everything else. My goal has always been to defeat Kuchiki and get Rukia back, he would never for an instant believe that I'd work with the Captain I so dislike, unless he commanded me to_.:

And that gave me, gave _us_, an opening we could exploit. We'd all fought Aizen before, and even when all of us fought him together at our maximum power the man just did not seem to have any weaknesses, but some how, we had all missed this one. Like any man of great power, Aizen was arrogant. Kuchiki would be the last one to see it because he was the same way, but I'd spent my childhood as sort of the small dog in the heap so I knew how power could make men blind. Aizen just wouldn't believe that someone so clever and thoughful as he could be out maneuvered, especially by someone stupider than him. He might be expecting a trick, but he counted on the nature of the person as he had assessed them to make his plans work. He was counting on my being the same person he had always known, one who concentrated solely on his own goals to the exclusion of everything else... And I wasn't that man, not any more.

Aizen had come to that place for a reason, and even if all the Captains had been present, their forces and powers were so frayed right now, and the Shadow Army that Aizen could bring to bear was so much more powerful and worse still, _unknown_, that they most likely would not stand a chance. Aizen was going to get what he came for. Period. He was also going to leave for parts unknown with no way for them to track him back to his lair. If that happened, Aizen would be able to fortify his stronghold, amass his forces, make them even more powerful than they already were, all without the ability of anyone in the Seireitei to keep an eye on simply because they could not find where the bastard was hiding.

:_He'll disappear and be able to strike at any time, from anywhere, at he leisure and we won't have a way to begin to guess where he is_.:

Unless I act.

:_Play into his expectations_.:

My dislike of Captain Byakuya Kuchiki, the man who had stolen away the girl I loved, the man who continued, by his mere existence alone, to keep us apart was very, very well-known. Aizen had used that enmity himself when he'd set about dividing up the squads during the Rukia Execution debacle.

My thoughts had been racing a mile a second while, unaware of the desperate plan that was forming in my mind, Aizen continued

"But if you must know, I have dropped by to acquire Rukia Kuchiki and Orihime Inoue. I figured that it was most likely that they would be here at this time, seeing as the boy never can seem to resist the siren call of battle, and wherever _he _goes, those two are never far behind him. I had planned to slip in under all the confusion and simply make off with all of them rather than announce my presence, fighting you all would be so tedious at the moment, but it seems that that notion was not to be. I suppose I shall simply acquire them the old fashioned way."

"Uh-huh." I said a little absently, shifting one or two details in my desperate plan.

It wasn't perfect, but it was a damn sight better than just letting Aizen get away still holding all of the advantages.

:It's risky, and Rukia still might kill me, especially for this one, but we don't have a whole lot of choice.:

"This is a surprise, Renji," Aizen said mildly, raising and inquiring brow. "No exclamations of defiance, no shouts of 'over my dead body' or other such nonsense? You're simply going to let me have them?"

I kept my mouth shut, waiting. As predicted, he kept right on talking.

"It must be frustrating for you to always be so powerless."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that one if I were you," I said to him, keeping my stance just as smugly confident as his own.

If there was one thing I did well, it was the tough-guy bluster.

"Oh?" he asked raising an elegant eyebrow.

"I bet I can tell you exactly what yer after Rukia an' the little mortal missy for _Sousuke_," I said, deliberately and disrespectfully using his first name.

His look of of bemused intrigue increased.

"Dazzle me."

"Yer after the blueprint of the Hougyoku still imprinted on Rukia's soul," I said.

It was a secret that I hadn't told anyone, not the Captain, not even Rukia. I'd bargained with That Uruahara for some of his secrets regarding the Hougyoku, especially as they pertained to Rukia, first chance I'd got. That was what that whole training with Sado had been about, I'd bargained time spent helping him trian for the answers to some questions, and that was the reason Captain had given me permission to hang around in Karakura for that time. I wasn't the sharpest sword on the rack but I knew that information was power.

There was a slight upturn of his lips and a look of superior amusement on his face as Aizen looked back at me measuringly, I could practically see the reassessment going on behind his eyes.

"And as fer Inoue, well that wasn't too hard ta figure out," I continued, holding his gaze steadily. "Ya wanna use her powers that reject reality within her sphere of influence to simply reject the fact of the hougyoku's removal, causing another one to generate inside of Rukia's soul so you can pull it out of there, like a man harvesting apples."

His assessing look of bemusement deepened.

"I am all astonishment, Renji. A teacher is always pleased when one of his students surpasses his expectations of him."

All during this conversation I'd been keeping my eye on my Captain, who's eyes had not for a moment left the form of his reincarnated wife who was steadily walking away from. He must have been feeling a thousand different things right then, though none of them (of course) showed on his remote and serene surface but for my mad plan to work I needed to set him off so that he would act.

I already knew perfectly well that in order for there to be any chance at all I was going to need more than a my few meager advantages, a couple of surprises, and a bankai (or two), I was going to need my Captains strength and more importantly his _intelligence_. Kuchiki was sharp on many levels, I needed his superior skills at strategy and planing ahead (neither of which had ever really been my strong point) if there was going to be any success at all. There was no chance that even the two of us working together could prevent Aizen from taking what he wanted... so if we couldn't stop it, we should _use _it.

:_Besides_,: I said surreptitiously reaching up for my personal Heartstone pendant around my neck and snapped it off its chain, palming it and hiding the gesture behind a nervous fidget.

:_Even if we defeated Aizen here, and there's little chance of that, we wouldn't defeat him permanently_.:

He'd shown over and over again that he was not the sort to put all of his eggs in one basket. I'd stake my position on his having made his own heartstone and hiding it somewhere so that even if, on the off-chance that he were ever somehow killed in battle or executed, he could _still _come back and hit us when we weren't expecting it. If we wanted to truly defeat him, we had to find a way to get back to his heartstone and it was with that in mind that I acted.

"Well, I'm happy I could make you happy," I said, my tone saying fuck-off, pleasantly. "But that's not all I know."

"Do tell."

:_Kuchiki's gonna freakin' **kill **me_,: I thought, even as I opened my mouth and said the words I knew would send my Captain straight over the edge.

"That mortal woman you have walkin' toward ya right now... take a good long look, maybe ya _recognize _her. I think you were still hangin' around, in the days before she found the Wheel."

"How very interesting," Aizen said as he looked into the woman's face, and behind it into the reiatsu, that permeated her being and his face smoothed over into enlightenment.

"It is a pleasure to see you once again, Lady Kuchiki,"Aizen said with all the smooth aplomb of a cat with cream on its whiskers. "If you will be so kind as to come with me, I can assure you that you will be made very comfortable."

He delicately reached a hand out and took her own as I restrained a pang of protective fury and kept my mind on my work.

I pulled speed from Snaketail, anticipating Kuchiki's next move. I knew from personal experience that nuthin' could spur a man inta action, even actions he wouldn't normally take, like some asshole messin' with his woman. I felt bad for him, I did, but at the same time... well, it was _necessary_. Not pleasant, but necessary.

::**_Are you sure about this_**?:: both sides of Zabimaru asked me.

:_I think it'll work_,: I said, trying for confidence.

His flash-step was in top form, but Snaketail (and the fact that I'd gotten a seconds head-start on him) enabled me to stay just that tiny instant ahead of him as he moved to strike at Aizen. His slice was smooth and perfect as usual, an economy of movement with a restrained spiritual strength behind the blow that I could only envy, and it would have hit directly on target, slicing Aixen in half right down the middle.

**Clang**!

If Zabimaru hadn't gotten there and intercepted Senbonzakura _first_.

For one timeless moment we locked blades and I saw his eyes widen in shock and disbelief at my betrayal. I mentally steeled myself for what was to come, I didn't want to play it this way since it went against my nature, but I couldn't see another way that were were gonna be able to find Aizen's new lair, locate his Heartstone without him knowing we knew about it and stopping us. We _needed _the element of surprise enough to steal the march on him and make it back in one piece (hopefully victorious). Maybe I was crazy ta think that I could pull a fast one on a guy like Aizen, but I wasn't going to let him abscond with Rukia to some unknown corner of the dangai without me there to help her escape. So I was goin' in, one way or another.

"Abarai...!" he said, looking well and truly pissed with me if that sudden flare of murderous intent was anything to go by.

Boy was I ever gonna get it later. That was fine, I was willing to risk it all.

:_Here goes_,: I said, steeling myself for the act of a lifetime.

"Abarai, what is the meaning of this?" he demanded.

"What's it look like Bya-ku-ya?" I said drawing out my use of his first name so that it became disrespectful.

He narrowed that intimidating stare of his at me. If looks could kill I'd have been dead through my next ten incarnations.

"It looks like you wish to die this day," he replied coldly.

I could have swore I saw frost actually form on the edge of Zabimaru from the temerature of his voice alone.

"Well, don't you sound confident?" I said cockily.

For this to work I needed to keep them both off balance; it was a proverb on the streets of Hangdog that "if you can fool your friends, you can fool your enemies" and while Kuchiki wasn't ever what I or anyone else who knew us would call my friend, he was someone who knew me significantly well, and if he was genuinely surprised, then Aizen would take the bait. He'd have to.

"You shall lay aside your weapon. Now."

I suppressed the instinct to obey the command given to me in _that tone_; it was much the same instinct that a child had when his mother shouted his full name at the top of her lungs.

"Naaah," I said instead, countering his next swing. "I really don't think I will."

I noted the way that Aizen's eyes narrowed speculatively from the corner of my eye as I kept up the act of deliberately disobeying my Captain.

"I'm gettin' a little tired o' sayin' how high ev'ry time you say jump," I continued. "I'm thinkin' that this guy here-"

I gestured to Aizen, standing with Isana at his side.

"Is missin' a team of cohorts and might be in th' market fer a new one. He's always been a man who respects strength. Back when I served under 'im, he wasn't so inclined ta treat me like I wuz somethin' th' cat dragged in outta th' rain."

My tone was saturated with long-suppressed frustration and insult over the way I had been treated. I concentrated on sounding and feeling very angry for every condescending remark, every slight that I had been forced to bear with, the frustration of being forced to bow to a thief who had taken from me what I had spent so much time and energy protecting and providing for and raising with care only to have some robber with a sense of entitlement waltz in and act like he owned. I let that feeling of anger and insult bleed into my voice, giving all of my words, no matter how false, that ring of truth that Aizen would hear and believe. He had to believe it. He had to.

"I speak down to you because you _are _beneath me," Kuchiki replied.

Well, yeah, in terms of both skill and position, it was annoyingly true. That didn't mean I liked it.

"I think its time I changed that," I growled in reply.

Captain Kuchiki pulled one of his favorite moves, a blur-flash to the right side with a draw and slash that would teach me a lesson in humility, or it would have if I hadn't seen it coming. My blade, thanks to Zab's enhanced speed, was already out to counter-strike as I stepped around his movement and disarmed him with a savage twist that would make his arm numb. Boy, was I ever gonna _get it_ later! The blade went flying end over end into the air and buried itself point-down into the dirt a few feet away from us. Kuchiki stared at me with a gratifying bit of shock in his eyes. No-one except Yoruichi Shihouin had ever managed to counter that move, when last we had fought I had been so far behind from countering that move it had been ridiculous.

"You-!" he hissed in anger.

I smirked back at him, not bothering to hide my amusement as I said

"I'm not the same pup who used ta dog yer heels," I told him.

Part of me protested even as I laid the flat of my blade against his neck as a warning not to move. I looked over at Aizen.

"So whaddya say, Aizen? Ya lookin' fer a new second?"

He narrowed his eyes at me, justifiably suspicious of my sudden change of heart.

"You'll forgive me for finding your unexpected request more than a little suspect, Renji," Aizen said smoothly. "You are many things, but a traitor is not among them. You are not the kind of man who can turn his back on his comrades. I can see that you would fight Captain Kuchiki, to fight and defeat him in pursuit of your personal goal is in your character, turning away from your friends is not. Your goal is too important to you."

"Well..." I said, willing my tone to steady and my voice to remain clear and my body not to give away the fact that I was lying through my teeth against my nature.

"About that." I shrugged. "Goals change."

I let the bitterness of my defeat after so very long a time of pursuit saturate my tone as I said

"I found out the problem with hangin' all yer hopes on a star, sure, sometimes they fall ta earth, but most times they just move further outta yer reach. My time o' chasin' stars is over. From now on I'm only gonna follow somethin' that's gonna turn out right fer me. Forget all those stupid high-minded ideals, they just get me nuthin' but pain. I'm tired o' actin' like some kinda sop, let everyone else do fer that, I'm shiftin' fer my self from here on in."

It was a load of complete bullhockey! Nonetheless my voice still had that ring of truth in it, as if I were finally confessing my true feelings. That was because I wasn't lying, not entirely. I _had _entertained those thoughts from time to time; in my moments of weakness, when despair of ever reaching my goal, of ever being good enough, crept in on me, I had thought those thoughts. I had thought of giving it all up and just being a selfish asshole. I'd always turned away from those thoughts before because they were spoiled and whiney; unworthy of me, unworthy of the man I wanted to become. However, they were still _there_, underneath the surface. And because they were part of me, they were partly how I felt and thus, partly _true_. Aizen wasn't the kind of man you could tell a flat-out lie to, so I used that selfish and unworthy part of me to convince him that this was how I really felt. He thought he was hearing a confession, and he partly was... but just because this was how I felt sometimes didn't mean that I intended ta live my life like some whiney brat, always feelin sorry for himself.

"Hmm, Interesting," Aizen noticed. "And your friends? What about them? If you follow this road with me, you'll eventually be forced into a confrontation with them. Can you do that?"

If I didn't answer this question right, the game was up. I had to give him enough of an affirmative ta get the leeway I needed without making him so suspicious that he wouldn't take the bait.

"I dunno what yer thinkin' I'm in for," I replied with a tone of attitude that I would never have tried on a man of rank in Seireitei. "I'll follow ya, as long as it's profitable fer me. Ya got a strong army on yer side. Yer enemies are weak. In the world I come from, the world I _know_, it's the strong that get the food. I'm tired o' being the little dog on the th' bottom o' the heap. Even when I claw my way up ta th' top of the heap I still got assholes like this guy here-"

I jerked a thumb at Kuchiki.

"Treatin' me like the runt o' the litter. I want to find a place that plays by the rules I know, where I don't have ta waste time on stupid ideals that don't getcha nuthin'. The law of the street says grab whatcha can an' don't give it back. If yer strong enough to take whatcha want then yer respected. I'm tired o listening ta guys like him, that've had everything handed ta them from day one, yap on an' on about utter crap that don't fit inta the world I know. You seem like someone who _gets _it. You know the law of the street, an' ya at least live by it."

Enlightenment dawned on Aizen's face now that I had given him an answer that fit in with his assessment of my character. He thought he knew what was going on in my head, he thought that I was just looking for a place that more closely resembled the roots I clung to so proudly, he thought he knew that I resented the way the wealthy aristocracy of the Seireitei had it so easy and that I just wanted to follow a man who would give me the world that played by the rules as I understood them.

"So I'll play yer game Aizen," I finished, going in for the coup de grace. "I'll be yer dog, in exchange I want one thing..."

I tapped the captain with my sword.

"I wanna defeat him. Arrange that for me, an' I'll fight fer you."

"You have said yourself that your goal was out of your reach," Aizen pointed out, still a little wary. "There's no point in fighting him if that's true."

I snorted and gave him a look that said he'd utterly missed the point.

"O' course there is!" I said. "If I beat him, then I'm the strongest. It's that simple."

Aizen chuckled in amusement and gestured that I should follow him. One of the Shadows that had come along with him had already nabbed Orihime Inoue and the poor brat Ichigo was laid out on the tiles after trying to get her back. The rest of the Brat Pack and the Vizards were busy fighting off another army of shadelings. Rukia stood there looking like the world had turned on it head and she wasn't sure which way was up.

And speaking of Rukia. There was one final piece I had ta put in ta place if this mad, desperate plan of mine was ever gonna work. I swallowed. When we got back ta Seireitei... she was gonna _kill _me fer this.

"And speakin' o' being the strongest, " I added, looking over at her.

I surreptitiously slipped the Heartsblood Diamond I'd palmed earlier into my mouth and tucked it under my tongue. Before I could talk myself out of it I advanced on Rukia suddenly.

"Renji, wha-?"

I didn't wait long enough for her to say anything else (or long enough for me to talk myself out of it), I just swooped in on her like a stooping falcon, and held her immobile long enough for me to claim her lips with my own.

Now, I was no stranger to kissing, I might be a man in love but that didn't mean I had forewent the carnal delights. I did enjoy a rather good reputation among the Nightblossoms (the ladies of negotiable virtue that plied their trade to lonely young Soul Reapers just outside the gates) so when I wanted ta kiss a woman I did so thoroughly and with skill. I'd wanted to kiss her for a very _long _time. A very _very _long time. Even if it wasn't under the sorts of circumstances I would have _liked_, it was still a kiss and that was something I resented having ta give away in show fer the sake of getting my job done. I would have liked to start out slow and work my way up, but unfortunately I had both an audience and a mission, so I simply had ta settle for hard and passionate. The poor girl never knew what hit her. She was frozen up in shock, unable to respond and I tried to ignore the despairing voice in me that said it was because she was completely indifferent to me. Before she could think to struggle or try to squirm away I quickly and expertly opened her mouth with my own, deepening the kiss and moved my tongue into hers... along with my heartsblood diamond.

I had not forgotten about it, though its importance to me was diminished for the greater part of my mission while I had fought to deal with everything else around me. Once it was on my person it had stopped being all that important, heaven knew I had reiatsu juice ta spare now that all my chakra were unsealed, so having the core of my power bound up in a stone hadn't seemed all that important, but it was now. My heartsblood diamond would serve an invaluable purpose now. Once I planted it on Rukia it would become a fool-proof tracking device. That stone held the core of my power, an essential piece of myself, my soul. I'd be able to find in anywhere, in any world, no matter what, and once Rukia had it I'd be able to find _her_. It didn't matter where Aizen sought ta stash her, as long as she had that stone on her, she would never be lost to me. It didn't really matter to me that by giving her my heartsblood diamond I was effectively giving her total and absolute mastery over me. I loved her, I trusted her, she was Rukia, and while she might occassionally (frequently) get pissed off at me, she'd never truly try ta hurt me.

So, with a kiss I literally gave her my heart.

* * *

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	71. The Water Lethe

As the stone passed into her mouth, Rukia struggled and made a noise of confusion, I pressed in until she accepted the gem from off my tongue and into her own mouth and then broke the kiss. It was an effort of will not to pant because all the while through that interminable kiss my body kept screaming at me, telling me this was _Rukia_, and trying to assert what it really wanted to be doing... getting the banquet instead of a taste. This whole charade was already pissing me off! I had really wanted ta do this properly, too.

It was strange and I hadn't been expecting it, but I definitely felt it when the stone left my possession. The moment my heartsblood diamond transferred into Rukia's mouth I felt a very strange, very subtle sort of not-quite-pressure. It wasn't like feeling the press of an alien or a familiar reiatsu against ones own, it was a little more like a resonance, my spirit was still separate from hers but there was a part of it suborned to hers as well. It was a little like the feeling of walking from a wide open room and into a smaller room, there are subtle differences in the air around you. In Rukia's case, it felt like someone had turned on the air-conditioning, but I guess that was to be expected considering the nature of her Zanpakutou.

She stared up at me with confusion (probably on a lot of different levels) and I kept her quiet with a look. She'd either get this next part or she wouldn't.

"Remember what I gave you, because it's the last part of me you'll get," I told her, looking hard at her and _willing_ her to understand.

Rukia just stared blankly back at me, immobilized with surprise (or disgust, I wasn't sure which). I turned and walked to the spot that had formerly been taken up by Gin Ichimaru, the place that all Lieutenants assumed in acknowledgment of their captain's superior rank, a step behind and slightly to the right. It was a silent signal that I had given up the place at my supposedly former captain's side and chosen his. Aizen smirked a little in that way of his and summoned up a private Gate, creating his own spirit path cutting through the dark. Triumphant, he led his new acquisitions along it, Rukia of course struggled against the bonds placed around her, as did Orihime. Isana went along meekly enough, but after having traveled with her for such a time I could say that I knew her well enough to know it was an act, and that she, like the quieter of the two Kuchiki's behind me, was biding her time and waiting to act. Well good, we all were.

After what seemed and interminable journey down a long path made of Captain Aizen's ridiculously strong spiritual energy we stepped into the middle of a moving starpath and began to walk down it sedately. Of _course_ he would have more than enough power to hold the damn thing open indefinitely. How the hell were we supposed ta fight a guy like him? His reiatsu was off the chart! Hell, it was probably making new charts all of its own and then breaking them.

:_Still, if there's anyone in the world who could figure out how ta beat him, it'd be my captain_,: I thought desperately hopeful.

The whole success of my plan hinged on the ability of Captain Kuchiki to be able to strategize a way out of this mess. I had the vague notion of using my freedom of movement when we got to wherever the hell Aizen's new lair was to look for the heartsblood diamond he had surely had made. Once we had that in hand, or at least knew where to find it, then we would have an advantage over him perhaps for the first time in the entire war. Kuchiki would know how to put that advantage to best use, he'd think of something because heaven knew I didn't have a clue what to do after I'd located the heartsblood diamond. Long term strategy was just not my strength. Yet another thing I'd have ta work on when i found the time (assuming I didn't end up gloriously dead trying to pull this stunt off). Short-term tactics were easy fer me, it shouldn't be too hard ta learn ta think in the long term. Maybe I'd have Kuchiki teach me how, after all this was over, he was my captain so that was sort of his job.

:_First, we have ta get all this over with_,: I thought and brought my mind back to business.

Knowing Aizen he'd probably lock them away in cells until figured to how best ta use them later, so they'd be safe enough for the short term. Short term was all I could think of right then. I'd know how to find Rukia, and so, presumably, the rest of the ladies, Aizen would most likely keep them together. Captain Kuchiki would probably be kept by himself, quarantined as it were, Aizen would judge him the most dangerous out of the lot of them simply because he was unarguably the cleverest. Rukia was pretty smart, but no-where near Aizen's level. The Kuchiki would be if he turned his mind to it. I was sort of counting on it taking Aizen a little time to regroup and get settled in after the massive failure of his heartsblood-diamond/Hueco Mundo venture. It'd take him at least a little bit of time to switch gears, even if he already had a back-up plan (and I didn't doubt that he _did_) and in that slice of time, I had to move and move quick ta find that heartstone of his, and find a way to sneak in undetected ta tell my captain what was up so he could plot a way out of this.

I saw the gate-terminus coming up and it was a few moments of a sedate walk before we stepped through it. The room we arrived in was not dusty, but the bare stone, even if it was decorated in mosaic on a Russian theme, carried an aura of something that had not been used in a very very long time. The hall we found ourselves in was all of bare stone put together in intricately locked patterns, the pillars were sheathed with painted scenes from medieval russian folktales, the walls had murals of more of them. The windows let in a murky colored light, it would have been pretty, but something about the place felt oppressive.

As soon as I had that thought, the atmosphere of the room seemed to change a bit, the light in the windows seemed to glow just a little more brightly, the tapestries around the walls seemed to loose a few layers of dust so that the colors showed through a bit more cleanly, the stone of the floor polished up and the candle-sconces attached to every set of pillars flickered into being. It felt almost as if the place were welcoming us... welcoming _me_. There was something about the air here, something about the very feel of the stone beneath my feet that was as familiar to me as my own breath. I knew this place. I had been here before.

"Hm..." Aizen said, his eyes narrowing.

He'd picked up something. I hoped it wasn't the same something that I had picked up, because if it was then he would be watching me even more closely than he was already going to be.

"If ya don't mind me askin' Aizen," I said, trying to act like my normal bumbling self. "Where the heck are we?"

"I have taken us to the private Realm of an associate of mine," he answered absently. "He has materials and tools for research that are quite valuable to me. As my original attempt to manufacture Heartsblood Diamonds was less than successful, it would behoove me to find alternate means of accomplishing the goal."

"Ah," was all I said in that usual tone I got when I had no idea what the person was talking at me about.

Aizen smirked at my ignorance, then turned to the prisoners still held in chains of shadow.

"Shades," he said, addressing the small shadows that kept them bound. "You shall escort my reluctant guests to living quarters for the moment..."

Aizen smiled, just a little maliciously.

"Put the two young ladies in the room with the Snow Queen's Mirror. That one there," he pointed to Captain Kuchiki. "Shall be kept in the west wing."

:_West wing_,: I made a mental note of that.

"Once you have secured them, you shall remain on guard outside of their rooms."

He turned to Isana and looked slightly amused.

"And Lady Hisana."

"My name is _Isana_," she corrected him with a cool poise worthy of The Kuchiki himself.

I had to give her major respect points for the fact that she neither flinched nor eased back when her captor advanced on her, instead she steeled her spine and refused to look the least bit intimidated by him. Orihime and even Rukia were both clearly afraid of Aizen, of course, they both knew enough about what he was really like to know that he was someone to be afraid of.

"I have something special for you," he continued, ignoring her correction.

"Whatever it is, I am not interested in it," she replied firmly.

The air in the room suddenly became heavy, like gravity had suddenly decided to go from the regular one-G to three-G's without warning. Even my chest felt just a little tight, Rukia and Orihime were brought to their knees, gasping. Isana staggered a bit, but shot him a defiant look and kept determinedly on her feet. I wanted to cheer for her, but I kept my face carefully blank. Aizen was already suspicious enough and I would serve no-one if I gave myself away this early in the game.

As quickly as the flare of reiatsu had come, it dissipated, and that gave me another insight into Aizen. He might be _acting_ calm and in control, but he had just suffered a major set-back in his game of cat-and-mouse with the Seireitei. He did not have the Heartsblood Diamonds he had set out to create, his enemy was not decimated, and the Espada's were still around to rebel against him if they so chose. In short, despite the fact that he had a few hostages, things were _not_ going well for him. Aizen wouldn't show it on the surface, but he had to be feeling very frustrated right then, frustrated enough that the least little insubordination from one of his prisoners was enough to crack that superbly cool calm of his. Useful.

"Abarai," he said abruptly. "Escort Lady Hisana to the balcony dining-hall, I will join you there shortly. The shadeling will show you the way."

A black little gremlin with flappy little wings made out of matte-black and beady little black eyes popped out of thin air at Aizen's gesture. It fluttered in front of me for a moment, then started down the hall.

"Yessir," I said, bowing properly to him.

Showing him deference and respect would be the way to go for now. Aizen was on edge already, dealing with rebellious underlings would just set him off. He might be suspicious of my display of humility, but deep down he would feel that it was his due, and that would reassure him on a subconscious level.

"This way missy," I said, taking her firmly by the elbow and leading her off.

The look she gave me could have felled pidgeons in mid-air. As soon as we were out of Aizen's earshot she hissed demandingly at me.

"Renji, what the hell are you thinking? What are you doing? Have you gone crazy?"

I knew that that little flying shadow-gremlin that Aizen had sent to act as our guide was also there to keep an eye on the interactions between us so I did the only smart thing to do and kept my mouth shut. I just pretended to ignore her, looking straight ahead of me and kept her in arms reach.

"Don't you ignore me," she said next in that tone that mothers used when their kids were acting up.

I steered her down the hallway to our left wordlessly, following the little shadow in front of us. She opened her mouth to add on to her reprimand but I squeezed her elbow. Hard. She gave a small, inarticulate gasp of pain and looked up at me in shock. In all the time we'd traveled together, no matter how she irritated me, I'd never once offered her the least bit of harm. The pain had been slight, just enough to shut her up, but it had been more the surprise that I would do so in the first place.

"Renji?" She asked, her voice betraying for the first time since she'd agreed to let herself be taken hostage, the fear and uncertainty she felt. "What's going on?"

"Shut it, woman," I said gruffly, trying to keep my mask in place.

It was hard for me to ignore the plea in her voice, but the walls had ears so far as I knew, so I had no choice but to stay in character. The trip to the place that Aizen had directed me to take her was both thankfully short and mercilessly long. It brought us to w wide open stone balcony, almost like a terrace attached tot he side of the castle that looked out over one of the castles massive sections of garden, this one was the rose garden. There was a round table spread with a white table cloth, on which was arrayed a small banquet of foods with a large raised bowl of fruit as the centerpiece. I puled out a chair for her and waited in silence. Isana seemed unusually subdued, glancing obliquely at me from the corner of her eye and clearly trying to figure out what was going on.

A few moments later a goblet appeared on the table from out of thin air. It filled itself with a strange liquid, mostly clear but it had an opalescent quality to it not unlike the shifting sheen on a soap bubble when the light played through it. The air, filled with the heady scent of rose blossoms, was thickened further by the presence of the former Captain Sosuke Aizen moments later as he appeared in the balcony doorway.

"My apologies for the delay, Miss Isana," he said in that silky smooth tone of his. "There were other matters to attend to before I could meet with you properly. Please, eat your fill and make yourself comfortable. I wish that you should consider yourself my guest here for the duration of your stay."

"A guest who cannot _leave_," she replied in a serene tone, but with a slight edge to her words.

"Just so," he agreed, smiling slightly to acknowledge her sally.

"Where is my son?" she demanded. "You gave your word that if I came along quietly with you, I would be reunited with him."

"He is safe and well cared for, you will see him quite shortly, that I can assure you of," Aizen said. "However, before I allow your reunion there is one tiny little trifle I wish from you first."

He gestured to the goblet filled with the mysterious opalescent fluid before her.

"You must drink it's contents. All of it."

I looked at the drink as dubiously as Isana did. I was pretty sure it wasn't poison, Aizen wouldn't have bothered bringing her all this way just to kill her off when it would be vastly more useful to keep her as a hostage against Kuchiki's good behavior. But it didn't have to be lethal to be dangerous. It could have some other sort of effect, and with the strange resources Aizen no doubt had to draw upon, there was no telling what those effects might be.

"What is it?"Isana sensibly asked next, eying the liquid with wary caution.

"It is a potion made from the waters of Lethe. You are aware of the River Lethe, are you not?"

"It's from Ancient Greek myth, one of the many rivers that flow through the Underworld," Isana replied. "It's the river that all souls cross when they go into their next life, the Water of Forgetfulness erases all of their memories of ones previous life."

"Very good," Aizen said pleasantly, sounding pleased. "It's _so_ hard to tell these days what the modern education system considers useful knowledge. Once upon a time, a background in classical greek and latin was considered _essential_, but now it all seems to be about what is needful to survive rather than knowledge for it's own sake. I tell you, it is a sad world you have come to live in, Mortal."

He shook his head, smiling softly with that _trustworthy_ smile of his, the one that had won my friend Momo over so easily.

"But I digress. The potion you see before you will not make you forget anything. Rather, it is a potion of remembrance. I wish to restore to you some of what was lost when your own soul crossed the river Lethe."

Isana looked at him with justifiable suspicion and mistrust.

"And why would you want to do that?"

"Call it simple generosity," Aizen said with another of his inscrutable smiles.

When the look of suspicion hardened and grew, Aizen stopped playing around.

"Drink and you will see your son, don't drink..."

He left the sentence hanging, playing hardball. For a moment it looked like the little missy was sizing him up for a fight but apparently thought better of it. Good, at least she was willing to take some advice still. She snatched up the crystal-and-gold goblet and downed the contents in a single gulp. Isana's eyes widened and she gasped in what looked like horror. She stared off into something only she could see as her body tensed up in what seemed to be pain. I checked an instinctive movement to make sure she was alright and stayed where I was. The little woman stared off into space for a long moment and then slumped over, unconscious. Aizen looked satisfied.

"She'll wake in due time. Renji, deposit her in the guest quarters with the other females and then return here to me, I have something for you as well."

I nodded once, not trusting myself to speak and picked Isana up to follow the little shadow-gremlin to the room she would be held in. I felt guilty for getting her involved in this mess. If I had only been stronger in my resolve to make her stay in the mortal realm, she would never have attracted Aizen's attention. She would also never have traipsed across countless Realms in the Dangai, gotten the permission of the Elemental Courts to bind and command Elementals in battle, faced down a Shadow or tested her resolve. It had probably been good for her spirit in the long run, but I worried about what this would do to her right then. I worried about what Aizen might have been planning in making her drink that lethe-potion. Rukia and Captain getting caught up in this was one thing, they were warriors same as I was, and they were prepared to risk everything for a victory... Isana was a civilian and a Mortal at that; the war in the spirit world shouldn't be any of her concern.

:_It is what it is_,: I said to myself. :_Whether we like it or not we're here. We'll just have to make the best of a bad situation and pray it doesn't get any worse_.:

* * *

**I am so, so sorry for dropping off the face of the earth for well over a month. The really really sad thing is I have no real excuse for not posting. I was just lazy. I'd get a day off and think, 'okay I'll edit and post that next chapter, but first let me check my email...' and then five hours later... 'hey, do you want to watch a movie?' Well, to make amends for my inexcusable tardiness in getting your next fix out I have a two-part one-shot with Rukia and Renji in it that I'm posting. I hope you will enjoy it. It is called "Tooth and Claw". If you have the free time, please leave a note in the box telling me what you thought of this (incredibly late) chapter. Until next time!**


	72. The Snow Queen's Mirror

The room that the gremlin led me to was not anything like I had imagined. Orihime Inoue had told us if the stark, bare chamber with its plain while walls, complete lack of furniture and single barred window that she had been held captive in in Las Noches (granted all of the walls, rooms and corridors in that place had been equally stark and bare but still...). I had thought Aizen would have settled on more of the same, but the room that the gremlin led me to was opulent almost to the extreme. The floor was covered in thick, plush patterned carpet, the furniture was of solid oak intricately carved, and all of the upholstery, hangings and cushions were of the most sumptuous of silks, satins and velvets. It was a room suitable for visiting royalty.

There were three large wide beds laid out side by side with silk and velvet draperies in colored to match their equally fine covers. The bed nearest the door was empty, but the other two beds held the unconscious forms of the red haired mortal girl and Rukia. I quickly scanned them to make sure they weren't damaged, but they seemed fine, just sleeping. I laid the other mortal woman out on the only other unoccupied bed and looked around. A bathroom was to one side of the beds and the only entrance/exit door was opposite a spacious room with an area for sitting, a small library with a knee desk, and a small round table and chairs for eating at. I found that one other door led to a smaller room with a young boy sleeping in his own bed in it, probably the long-searched-for son of Isana.

There was an enormous mirror in a frame of crystal and silver polished so brightly that it shone white, carved and decorated to look like a mirror made of frost directly across from the three beds. I looked unconsciously over at my reflection in the glass and it rippled and blurred out, as if it had frosted over, then it cleared, only now instead of my reflection staring back at me, I was looking at a memory of my old self as though I was looking through a window.

A young Rukia and a young me, both dressed in the white and blue and white and red uniforms from the Soul Reaper Academy, sat underneath a plum blossom tree in early springtime, Momo and Kira were walking down the way a bit. The first of my binding marks had freshly appeared on my forehead and Rukia rested comfortably back against me, not at all wary about using me as a backrest.

I remembered that day! It was the cherry blossom viewing festival in our fourth year, the one they held just after they held the exams to advance classes. We had just been given our students allowance (coming from nobility, most of the student body was accustomed to having in money so all students were granted a small allowance by the academy in an attempt to make things more fair, after all it wasn't right to punish students who performed well by prohibiting them from joining in social events due to lack of money, they were not able to work yet). I had used every last cent of the money I had been carefully saving from my previous four years SA's and the reward for "exemplary behavior in the field" given when Momo and Kira and I had faced down all those Hollows in that training excersize gone terribly wrong our first year... I had saved everything I'd earned during the Academy instead of spending it on Chappy merchandise and candy and food like Rukia had, I had saved it all to buy the most beautiful promise ring for Rukia. It was white gold with tiny diamonds in small snowflake clusters that sparkled brightly in the light. Granted, it hadn't had a big, impressive diamond but I'd figured she'd like that better since she was going to be working in a battlefield anyway, she wouldn't want something that could get caught on the wrapping of her sword or something.

I remembered well how nervous I had been. I'd spent the whole flower-veiwing festival with my stomach a knot of nerves and my face nearly constantly flushed while we'd strolled the fair grounds set up just outside the Academy grounds together. The ring I'd bought for her seemed to weigh a thousand pounds in my pocket as I'd waited for just the right time to talk to her. I'd had been sort of distracted repeating the words to announce my intentions over and over again in my head because I'd wanted to get it just right. I'd planned on asking her to be my girl that night under the plum trees when the fireworks were over with... but at the last minute I decided it would be better to wait a few days until I could finish my exams. At the time I'd figured that she wouldn't want to be with someone who had no certain future (there was no guarantee I'd get a spot in a squad after all) and it would be much better for me to ask her to be with me forever when she could be sure I'd have a way to provide a good life for her... and anyone else who might come along, so I'd reluctantly held my tongue and just enjoyed having a day out with her, saving the ring and all of its future promises for later, when I was sure I could make good on them.

The images in the mirrors played out before me like one of those Human World picture shows, and when the mirror showed the two of us, nestled comfortably under the blossom-laden branches of the plum tree (Kira and Momo had discreetly taken themselves off on a pretexts to go find more sweet sake) staring up at the bursts of fiery color painting the sky in sparkling flowers both of smiling in delight. We looked so damn young! The whole world seemed like it was spread out before us, and despite the pain we'd endured already, everything was still full of wonder because we'd weathered it all together, and the possibility of anything separating us at all seemed inconceivable.

:_So young_...:

But it was at that point, strangely that the imaged shown in the mirror changed from what had actually happened. The mirror showed a different reality, a world that would have existed if I had chosen the path not taken.

And I watched as the phantom me in the mirror that had never existed, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and pulled the ring he'd got for Rukia from his pocket. He polished it quickly on the sleeve of his shirt and leaned a little forward with the mirror-Rukia wrapped in his arms. It was soundless, the soft words he murmured into her ears, but I didn't need to actually hear them to know what they were... they were indelibly written on my own memory, the words I had never said. He held the ring up before her face, offering her everything, and waited for her reply. I watched in regretful misery as the mirror-Rukia stared at the tiny ring, sparkling like a band of captured stars in the colored bursts of light, for a long moment, and her face slowly melted into a soft, real smile. There were even small tears that the young not-me probably couldn't see welling up in her eyes, I couldn't hear the reply but it was undoubtedly favorable, for the mirror-Rukia eagerly slipped the ring on her finger and kissed young the mirror-me with enthusiasm.

I watched in tortured fascination at the mirror flickered through images of a life that had never existed except only in a fantasy. The two of us married by Captain Aizen in a small, simple but meaningful ceremony a week after my early graduation and gaining a place in the squads. The Kuchiki's offer of a place within his House rejected due to Rukia already having a place. The two of us saving our paychecks, living in barracks for the first three years of our marriage so that we could afford a small but comfortable place in one of the residential districts. Me fixing the place up, Rukia adding homey touches. The two of us squabbling as usual over this and that but knowing that there would never come a day when we wouldn't make up. I looked away, my chest twisting in raw agony when I saw the phantom mirror-me hold his firstborn child, an exhausted Rukia in his arms as well (probably assuring him that she'd meant every death threat). Then the mirror-me showing that beautiful child to the friends he loved and the Captain he respected and worked for. And Aizen... how Aizen had _watched_ that child. The false Captain congratulated both parents on bringing a truly exceptional child into the world. The parents that had never existed beamed on in pride at the compliment, but I, the real me watching on the outside, who knew what to look for, saw the glint of _avarice_ in the Captain's eyes.

I turned away violently, gasping for breath and feeling so sick I nearly lost my lunch. The raw, agonizing envy and regret I felt about a life I didn't have and so very nearly could have was washed away by the horror I felt at the way things would have gone if I'd had my dearest wish. Sure, Rukia and I would have been together, Kuchiki would have been entirely out of the picture, and I would have had the life I'd always dreamed of... but when the time came for Aizen to make his move, as the mirror then proceeded to show me in terrifying, horrible detail, it wouldn't have been Rukia he'd set a trap for, it would have been our _child_. He would have destroyed that life and every other person that came across his path. No-one would have been powerful enough to stop him because Rukia would not have met Ichigo. She would not have transferred her powers to him, his friends would not have grown powers of their own, Ichigo would not have come to save her from execution thus forcing Aizen's hand prematurely and throwing a wrench in his plans. A thousand tiny coincidences, lined up like dominoes, would never have fallen, therefore not giving our side the chance to defeat him _at all_.

Aizen would have won.

The mirror silvered back over as soon as I stopped concentrating on it and then cleared showing only the reflection of my shocked face staring back at me as I absorbed the implications. If I'd been selfish and followed my heart instead of trying to be so responsible about thinking of the future, Rukia would have chosen me over Kuchiki, we would have been happy together, we'd have had a wonderful life with kids and a home and everything I'd ever dreamed of... and we would have lost it.

:_Zabimaru_,: I said internally when I got done shaking.

:**_Yeah_**?:

:_I never, ever EVER thought I would see the day when I would think this... but I'm glad I gave her up to Kuchiki. If that's the kind of world we would have inherited if I didn't know the meaning to the word self-sacrifice then I'm glad I'm not that boy_.:

:**_Well you weren't and you never will be_**,: Zabimaru said. :**_But of course, I already knew that_**.:

:_I'll tell you one thing though, that about killed any regrets I feel about the Rukia business once and for all. Even if it never works out between us there's at least some small comfort in knowing that my sacrifice doesn't end up in pain all around, and that there is such a thing as the greater good_.:

I didn't honestly know whether I could say the decision to let Rukia go despite what I wanted would have been more noble if I'd known the consequences of it. Letting her walk away because I believed it was best for her didn't seem as important as sacrificing the happiness we could have had together for the good of the Seireitei. The latter seemed like the kind of noble deed that a hero would take on, the decision that I had made to let her go to Kuchiki was only about the two of us. It was just the way I was, i believed that if I really loved someone, I should always do what I feel is best for that person, regardless of whether it what I want personally. I sort of wondered, if I had known then what had seen just now, would I have chosen let her go? It would have been very tempting to have those years of peace and happiness (and a baby!) with the woman I love.

:**_I think you would have looked at the cost of that transitory happiness and still done what you knew was right_**,: Babs said.

:_Yeah, yer probably right_,: I agreed after a long moment. :_It would have been tempting though. Good thing that it's all in the past. Whether I knew it or not, I did do the right thing. Can't have love without it going hand in hand with sacrifice._:

It often seemed to me that modern people in the mortal world didn't seem to realize that fact for some reason. I could only assume that it was why their divorce rate was so high and climbing, everyone walked into these marriages thinking that they wouldn't have to give up a little bit of the person they were to become part of their life pairing. Meh, I was a death god so the thinking of mortal beings was a little different from mine.

:_Anyway, enough woolgathering. We've got a lot to do, and probably not a whole lot of time to do it in. Let's go beard the evil overlord in his lair of iniquity_.:

Hopefully I wasn't in over my head.

I took one last lingering look at Rukia, whom I could sense holding my heartstone hidden somewhat safely in her hands, and exited the chamber to see if there was anything Aizen was going to want me for immediately. No doubt he already had some devious test cooked up to either ensure or test my loyalty. With any luck, he still thought of me as a simpleton and so wouldn't be terribly interested in setting a close guard on me.

:**_Do you think it's a very good Idea to leave that mirror in the same room with those women_**?: Snakey questioned me. :**_I mean, you know what they're like, there's no telling what kind of things they'll use it to see._**:

:_Nah, I'm not worried about it. Isana's learned her lesson about just taking what she wants, Orihime's a good girl, and I trust no-one in the world more than I trust Rukia. I'm sure everything will be fine_**_._**:

* * *

**And on that note...**

**Sorry it took me for freaking ever to post this chapter. It was one of those scenarios where I was never quite satisfied with the way it turned out. I'd had that Snow Queen Mirror idea floating around in my head as well as that scene of a different world but was never quite happy with the way I put it. anyway, enough of my artistic temperament. I hope you all enjoyed the recent post. Please tell me what you think (i'm still not sure I'm entirely satisfied with it...) but if you're all happy with it, I guess I'll have to let it be.**


	73. But Who Watches the Watchmen

I found Aizen already well ensconced in the rooms that the original master of this Realm, the Katschei, had inhabited. It was a spacious suite, really more like its own miniature palace. Besides a bedroom and bathouse of palatial proportions, the rooms led directly to Katschei's immense private library (who knew what the public one was for since, to my knowledge the old miser had never had any visitors) and a tower with several floors of magical workrooms where he presumably conducted his research and experimentation into the uncombed depths of magic.

"Up here, Abarai," I heard the voice of my new master call.

I shrugged mentally to myself, trying not to feel too leery about getting too close to a man I considered to be a dangerous enemy. I already knew he was way smarter than I could ever hope to be, I was hanging all my hopes on a very slender thread indeed when I had made my play to try to trick him. Chances were very very good that I had not fooled him at all. I had the sinking feeling that Aizen had already decided to find another way to make sure his new henchmen stayed loyal to him, hopefully it didn't have anything to do with that drink Hisana, er, Isana had just consumed.

I tried not to drag my feet as I stepped on to the flat circle inset into the floor and it rose up on its own past multiple levels of the Katschei's private work-tower. I caught glimpses of the rooms as I passed them level by level. Many were lined with multi-tiered cases holding what looked like books, but they were all exactly the same size and shape. Other rooms had long benches in them with all manner of paraphernalia on them, others were filled with glass-lined closets full of row upon row of neatly labeled jars, bottles and boxes, all of which were of uniform sizes only the substances in them were different.

:_This guy was not only a miser, but clearly more than a little OCD as well_,: I mused to myself.

One room held glass spheres with glowing clouds roiling inside them like captured thunderstorms, another room held what looked like a hundred different bird cages each holding some poor elemental creature within it. At last the lift slowed and stopped in another room that had more crystal spheres in it, but I recognized these ones... they held Shadows in them, and there were _hundreds_ of them. The sphere's came in varying sizes from no larger than a child's playing marble to about the size of a basketball. Aizen had his back turned to me, examining the contents of one of the more sizable spheres with one eye while he held open a book in one hand whose pages seemed to glow a bluish-green color.

"You called for me sir?" I asked, using the same deferential tone for him that I would have used for my own Captain.

"I did," he replied easily.

Aizen paused in his perusal of whatever was written in the book to look over at me with that piercing, searching look of his. I stared blankly back at him, showing him my very best idiot-about-town look and prayed I wasn't over doing it.

"Your defection was... unexpected," Aizen said.

I was afraid to ask whether he was being frank with me or using it as an opener.

"You must understand that such unexpected behavior from you is cause for a bit of concern for me," he continued when I didn't say anything.

This could easily be a trap and my instincts warned me that if I hastened to reassure him of my loyalty towards him, he'd decide I was _definitely_ his enemy... and kill me before I could cause trouble. Instead, I relied cautiously.

"Yeah," I said, acknowledging the truth of his words, but my tone implied "what of it, get to the point!"

Aizen smiled ever so slightly as he discerned my unspoken demand, he head raised in yet another long, appraising look.

"You will have your use to me in time,"He said casually, but his affable tone belied the sheer creep-factor underneath it. "Make no mistake of that. I do not take in those I do not think will prove useful. It was one reason why you were weeded out in the first place, as I am sure you are now aware. However, _that_ is a project for a future date, after I have come sufficiently far in my research to require a test subject. For now, you are at loose ends, and you can understand that I don't want you causing... trouble."

I looked at him with one of those _flat_ looks I did so well, and Aizen looked, if anything, even more amused. He held up a small crystal in the palm of his hand, one with a miniature Shadow roiling in a tiny cloud inside of it.

"What's that?" I asked as if I'd never before seen a Shadow in all of my life.

"Call it insurance," he replied.

He stepped over to me and I had to steel myself from flinching away and managed it, just barely. I didn't bother hiding the suspicious look from my face as Aizen released the seal on the Shadow and knelt down on the floor. The Shadow hissed out like a genie from a bottle then flowed downward like black mist. It found my own shadow stretched out along the floor from the sole light within the room and... merged with it. I felt a weird tingle roll over me and then nothing as it seemed to settle in.

"What the-?" I explaimed, not having to feign the very real surprise and suspicion in my voice.

"That creature is called a Shadow," Aizen said. "I won't bore you with the trifling details. All _you_ need to know, Abarai, is that I have set it on you as your own personal watchman. It will perforce consume a minute amount of your own reiatsu to sustain itself in its half-existance, but it does not eat or sleep ever. It will be part of your every move, monitoring everything, as inseparable from you as your very own shadow. It will, of course, report back to me of everything you do."

My mouth quirked to one side as I looked down at my shadow and moved my hands and legs to see if I could notice a difference in it. The show was for Aizen's benefit, to buy me time to keep my face from showing how very inconvenient this new addition was. I had thought he'd set some kind of watch on me, but I had figured that it'd be something I could beat the crap out of somehow. How was I going to get in touch with the Captain now?

:_I'll have to figure something out_,: I thought to myself.

"You won't see it or hear it," Aizen said for my benefit, not really bothering to hide the contempt and boredom he already felt for his new subordinate.

"That's great," I said, my tone conveying that I could really care less.

I was about to serve him with yet more of just what he expected of me, just to really throw him off the scent.

"When am I fighting Kuchiki, and where can I train until then?"

Under even the most normal of circumstances that would have been the first thing I asked about and the only thing I cared about. My mania for training myself in order to defeat him was well-known among both strangers and my own social set in Seireitei. It was the reason I was friends with Madarame (or at least it had started out that way) it was the reason I was a lieutenant in Sixth... it was just about the reason I did anything. As my best friend Momo's former Captain for many decades, Aizen would naturally be well aware of it.

Aizen didn't, _quite_, roll his eyes but his tone of dismissal was clear. My monomania for trying to bring down my captain was about to buy me free run of the pace and a minimal guard if I wasn't mistaken.

"There are testing courts in the lower levels and gardens outside," he said in a bored tone, already turning back to whatever it was he was working on. "See that you stay clear of the ones with the ruins as there are delicate spells in place that maintain this realm."

"What about food and sake?" I asked next.

That would naturally be second on my list of priorities. I could almost see Aizen starting to regret saddling himself with a moron. Ah, but I was a moron with information, and information was power.

"You will have to discover that for yourself," he said, sounding a little irritated now. He didn't quite flick his fingers at me to shoo me off, but it was clear that he wanted to.

"Right then, call me when it's time to fight," I replied strolling jauntily over to the lift, looking like I didn't have a single thought in my head except for the next battle.

:_Zabs_?: I asked my zanpaktou. :_Can that Shadow hear what I'm thinking_?"

If it could, I was in deep kimchee.

:**It is a nearly powerless specimen of its type**,: he reassured me. :**Even if it had the ability I would certainly be powerful enough to sheild us**.:

:_Good, that's one worry out of the way_.:

:**What do you think he has planned for you**?: Snakey asked curiously.

:_Who cares_?: I replied. :_Whatever it is, it can't be good. Let's just focus on finding his heartstone and thinking of a way to warn Captain without Aizen knowing about it so he can think up some way to defeat that guy. We gotta move quick, but first we should train for a good long session so that Aizen sees me behaving exactly the way I always do_.:

The training session would be done in roar-form naturally, no sense in laying my ace in the hole out on the table already. After a good long session I had the vague notion of using the search for food and drink as a cover for my real objective: finding Aizen's heartstone. Once I had that found, I could figure out some way to get in touch with Captain, let him know what was going on. I didn't know what to do about the other prisoners. I felt bad that they were there at all, but I had a mission of my own to take care of. If I didn't find that heartstone I had a feeling we were all screwed.

:_I don't know what he's going to do with Rukia if he actually manages to do what he's set out to do_.:

Aizen had already proven himself utterly ruthless when it came to getting a hold of the hougyoku. He'd tried to kill Rukia once already in his first attempt.

:_If he tries to kill her a second time, it'll only be over my dead body_,: I swore to myself. :_Rukia, be safe. I'll get us out of this somehow. Rukia..._:


	74. More Than You Think, Less Than you Know

**Warning: POV change ahead.**

Rukia Kuchiki woke with a start, jolting instantly awake and forcing her mind to catch up with her surroundings. She'd heard Renji's voice calling her name but when she looked around, he was no-where to be seen. She was practically alone in a room that rivaled the finest rooms in the Kuchiki manor with regards to the quality of its furnishings, though the style was decidedly Ottoman in its feel. There were carving and geometrics on all of the furniture, patterned upholstery in fine fabrics and thick plush rugs on the mosaic floor. The other occupants of the room, Inoue and that mortal woman Renji had been traveling with, lay stretched out on the beds on either side of her.

:_I wonder where we are_...: Rukia thought to herself, looking around in vain for some sort of window or anything that might give her a substantial clue as to where Aizen had taken them.

They weren't in Las Noches, that was for sure. Before Renji had written back to her about the other Realms in the Dangai, she would have swore that the only possible places they could be hidden away were in the World of the Living, Hueco Mundo, or Soul Society. Now she knew that wasn't true, there were an untold number of little pocket Realms carved out by old Gods and Nature Spirits and she and her fellow prisoners could be in any one of them. This wasn't to be like last time where a rescue party could simply come charging in to save them. If there was to be any rescue, they were going to have to do it themselves.

Rukia flexed her spiritual "muscles" testing out the strength of her powers with a small flare of reiatsu. She was both dismayed, yet unsurprised to feel no upwelling of spiritual force come to her call. Aizen had, naturally, found a way to suppress her powers. Her Zanpaktou was nowhere to be seen but...

Disguising the movement as a sneeze, Rukia very carefully spat out the stone that Renji had passed to her when he'd...

Her face flushed, remembering the heat and power behind that kiss he'd stolen from her. That had been no awkward teenage fumble, nor had it been hesitant or shy in any way. That had been a _man_'s kiss. Rukia's mouth went dry as her face flushed of its own accord. She was accustomed to having all of the power in their dynamic, when they'd been kids anything he had was pretty much hers for the taking and if she'd taunted him with that fact well, that's what he got for chasing after her. It had come as an unwelcome shock that he'd given her up without a whisper of protest but she hadn't been able to blame him for it really, he'd been stronger than she, and better in all of his subjects save kido, so it was only natural he'd want to be able to get on with his life without her keeping him back.

Rukia had thought she'd firmly squelched and buried any silly girlish notions about the life she'd dreamed about having with him after they graduated and became Soul Reapers on the day when her brother officially adopted her. Her rank was higher than his would ever be, they lived in two separate worlds so there was no point in longing after something that would only ever be nothing more than a fantasy. She was fine with dreams that wouldn't come true... hence her crush on Kaien Shiba. He had been safe for her to love, or so she'd thought, her reasoning being that he wouldn't ever love her back, but likewise he wouldn't leave her either. Oddly enough her unrequited feelings for her lieutenant had been what made the lonliness and solitude in the Kuchiki's easier to bear as she tried not to look on with raw envy while Renji made friends and fit in and gained rank and got stronger and more powerful while she... became a lady. It had been hard and painful thinking that she didn't matter to him anymore then all of a sudden he came breezing back into her life, along with Ichigo, just at the moment when she had resigned herself to giving it up, fiercer and stronger and more powerful than ever, and knowing her just as deeply and instinctively as he always had. It had felt like an amputated limb that had still on occasion given herphantom limb syndrome was suddenly and unexpectedly restored to her. He'd followed her to Hueco Mundo as easily as he'd followed her to Soul Reaper Academy and strangely, her world seemed to regain its balance. Despite her better efforts to repress it, a small, tiny hope tried to raise pry itself out of the little box she'd stuffed it into to get through her new life.

After all... he was a lieutenant now, and not only that but her brother's lieutenant too. There was every chance that, given time there might grow a certain fondness on the side of her brother for the young man under his command. She knew already that her older brother was the sort to become set in his ways, like an old man, he disliked change. Rukia had hoped that, after a few years to get used to Renji being a regular fixture in his life, a reliable dependable person of whom her brother could generally approve of, she might brach the subject of marriage. it would be a hard sell, even if he was a lieutenant, but if Rukia couched it in terms of Renji being his lieutenant, someone he was already accustomed to, and that in this way Rukia would not be bringing some stranger that her brother did not know and might not like into the house, well, it might just be enough to make the idea palatable to him. But that notion had hinged on the uncertainty of Renji himself going along with the idea.

The issue had never been broached, had never even been hinted at. The fact that their bond was so strong after decades apart had given her hope, but...

She shook her head, deciding that she was going to deal with her reaction to that kiss and what it might mean at a time when her life wasn't in possible danger and she wasn't being held in durance vile by a mad genius. She switched her thoughts back to the stone he'd given her. That it was special she had no doubt of. For one thing, it's wasn't merely sparkly, it actually glowed with inner power and it...

:_Is that...? It feels like... No, it can't possibly be so_...: Rukia thought in confusion as he reiatsu settled and started picking up a strange spiritual vibration from the stone that Renji had passed to her surruptitiously when he had kissed her.

It felt like Renji.

Even after thier years apart, you didn't grow up two inches away from a person day in and night out for all of your formative years without knowing the exact scent and nuance of thier spiritual energy as closely as you knew your own. The stone had Renji's reiatsu in it, Rukia would know it anywhere. She frowned in confusion at it though, she had never heard of anything like that...

:_Except that orb that Ichigo and Orihime told me about maybe, the one that Kuukaku Shiba had let them use to create a poweful spirit barrier to shoot them into Seireitei with. But this doesn't look like an orb_.:

Looking more closely at the stone, Rukia noticed that it was put into a setting that was shaped like a snake and a baboon, the counterparts of Renji's nue-zanpaktou-spirit, Zabimaru. That clinched it, the stone definitely belonged to Renji. He had gone to strange lengths to slip it to her however, and Rukia didn't know why he might do such a thing.

:_Man, when this is all over with... Nii-sama is gonna kill him_,: Rukia thought.

She allowed the recent revelations to catch up to her in her own mind; he had been traveling with the reincarnation of her own sister for weeks on end and hadn't even slipped a hint of it in all of the letters he'd written back to her, add to that he'd had the temerity to kiss her without her consent, even if it was possibly to slip her some artifact that he no doubt felt was going to protect her somehow... which just sort of made it worse as far as Rukia was concerned.

:_What, I'm not good enough for mister High and Might Lieutenant to kiss under ordinary circumstances, so he just steals my lips whenever he wants to do covert, sneaky stuff?_: she thought, allowing her temper to mount.

As usual, it was so much easier to be angry at him than to be hurt by him.

:_And what was with all that non-sense he spouted off about the rules of the streets?_: she scoffed to herself.

The only street rules Renji had ever taken to heart were "protect your gang-mates" and "nut up or shut up" What was all this nonsense about the strong ruling over the weak? Renji didn't believe any of that crap... it was the very first and most basic thing that the two of them had ever had in common! Sure, he might push people around every now and then, but that was just his way of trying to make them grow a bigger spine...

:_And you're getting off track_,: she chided herself.

Regardless of what he said, Rukia knew in her heart that the crap he'd spouted off to Aizen wasn't true. She had the proof of it in her hands right now, the stone that glowed with a soft indigo light that pulsed like a heartbeat in her cupped palms felt like Renji.

:_He had to have slipped me this stone for a reason_,: she thought. :_Which means that he clearly hasn't thrown his lot on with Aizen_.:

She was surprised by how much the very logical nature of that realization made her feel relieved. Relieved enough that she could set her doubts about whatever else was going on aside and try to prod a bit at the mysterious stone that renji had slipped to her, maybe it was some kind of hint or something.

:_it has his power in it somehow. Maybe if I try putting in a little of my own power into it_...:

Rukia gathered up and spun out a fine tendril of her own reiatsu, just the same way she would to start laying the careful, delicate groundwork for a kido spell, and prodded it at the stone. It flickered a bit when her thread of reiatsu came into contact with it but she couldn't find a way to put it in the stone.

:_Maybe something else_...:

Rukia cleared her mind, wrapped her reiatsu around the outside of the gem, closed her eyes and, bringing the stone in closer to her heart where she could feel the warmth and steady presence that she always associated with Renji radiate on her like a minuature sun she pictured him in her minds eye and...

There was a thumping pulse along her senses and she was thrown mentally into a half-trance state, much like the one she got when she went into the inner-scape to commune with her Zanpaktou, except that instead of going inward she went outward. Sort of. It wasn't quite like seeing through his eyes, it was more like looking over his shoulder, she could see his body and most of what he himself saw and

::**That should be enough practice to convince that Aizen-bastard that I'm serious about takin' on the Captain, now ta find and excuse ta look around this place and see if I can't find that damned stone**!::

Rukia could hear him as clearly as if he were standing right next to him, speaking but in the next moment she actually saw him move his mouth.

"Who the hell do i have ta kill ta get a drink around here?" he demanded loudly of the air.

::**There, that should fool that shadow-watcher that Aizen's pinned on me, and any other covert means he has of keepin' an eye on me**,:: Renji thought.

Rukia watched, impassive as a ghost or a Vision, while Renji went ranging grumpily through the halls, growling like a hungry wolf, tearing the place apart to supposedly look for food. His thought would suggest however, that he was using his stomach as a ruse to look for something else.

The place they had landed in was immense and filled with ... things. Some of the things had a clearly defined purpose, or at least an origin, there were rooms filled with the treasures of ancient tombs, the Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Greeks, the Incas, the Aztecs, the kings of the Songhai Empire, the Ottomans, Romans, and hundreds of other related civilizations. There were rooms that were filled practically to bursting (but still eerily organized, as if by an OCD) with every type and size of article, there were ornate boxes, urns, furniture, atrifacts, all of which of precious metals and encrusted with jewels.

In one section of the immense and sprawling estate, Rukia was awed to see the scrolls and texts of the Lost Library of Alexander the Great, the one that had been burned (lamentably) thousands of years ago, all of them in perfect condition (though some things were smoke singed). Room after room, trove after trove; the treasures went through various periods througout history, from the Indian sub-continent to the Spanish galleons, from the paintings of the famous Renaisance Artists to the statues of the ancient Greeks. Any museum keeper worth his salt would have sold his children to the tenth generation to get his hands on a fraction of the items displayed in even one of those rooms let alone all of them. Renji just scanned around them, sniffing the air like a dog on a scent, and dimissed the immense treasures with a grunt and a roll of his eyes.

They came across a room stacked floor to celing with nothing but lit, glass display cases filled with priceless fabrige eggs.

::**Hn!**:: Renji dismissed poking at one, opening it up and finding its elaborate contents. ::**Only the wealthy and foolish would spend so much time and money on an egg with no food in it! Stupid nobles**.::

:_Only you, Renji would come across a treasure trove that would make Ali Baba weep with jealousy and Aladdin ask his genie for more wishes, and lament the fact that you can't eat it!_: Rukia thought, internally shaking her head at him.

"Rukia?" Renji asked aloud of the empty room.

:_Renji_?: Rukia replied mentally, realizing for the first time that he could hear her.

"You can hear me?"

:_I can **see** you_,: Rukia replied. :_That stone you slipped me when you kissed me connects us_.:

:**Can you hear me if I don't speak out loud? Aizen's got a watcher on me, merged into my shadow that follows me around and reports to him everything I say and do**.:

:_I can hear you fine, dummy. And you've got some explaining to do. We'll start with how that mortal woman you've been off gallivanting around the Divine Realms with is my reincarnated sister and you saw fit not to inform either myself or my brother, and go from there_.:

:**Uh**...: he said.

Rukia could taste his chagrin as easily as she would feel her own wave of discomfort and unease at the thought of meeting the person who had abandoned her in Hangdog as a baby. Granted, she owed everything that she was now to the woman who searched for her until her dying day but Rukia honestly didn't know how to feel.

:**I know the idea's probably a weird one for you**,: Renji said picking up on her emotional state as easily as she had felt his. :**But for what it's worth, she's... not so bad. Her new life has given her chances to ease the errors of her old one. She's a good mother, very protective of her son. Still has her share of faults, not the least of which is an annoying knack for bossing me around.**:

Rukia felt a sly bit of tease from him as Renji added

:**I think it just runs in the family**.:

Rukia sniffed. She could sense that he was trying to jolly her into a better mood so that she would fogive him faster. It wasn't going to happen. Rukia felt Renji's minor bit of dispiritedness as she failed to respond favorably to his attempt, but as usual, he shrugged it off and got down to business.

:**That stone I gave you is actually my heartstone**,: Renji told her. :**It contains the core of my spiritual power. I got it when I sent on the Katschei. You probably read my report to the Captain about it. I put in the official report that I had to use my own reiatsu to push his power out of the keystone that held this realm together so he would stop getting around the reincarnation-after-dying thing, well what I didn't mention was that the Realm he'd built, this Realm actually, needs a master, a will, to keep all of the spells together and from disintegrating. My power was already in the stone, so I was accepted as this Realm's new master kinda by default. I haven't really noticed any harm from it, I just have a little peice of me that's outside of me. I gave it to you so that no matter what happens, no matter where you are or where Aizen thinks he can stash you away... I'll never loose you. You keep that Heartstone on you and I'll always be able to find you, no matter what.**:

Rukia tried not to feel touched at the unwavering solidity of his promise. She wanted to tell herself that the things he was saying to her were nothing more than Renji just being himself.

:_This stone connects us_,: Rukia said, partly as a way of changing the subject so that she woudn't have to notice some of the other things she was beginning to sense from Reni's hearstone.

She had no doubt of his sincerity, seeing as it was now impossible for Renji to lie to her without her knowing it, but there were greater things than simple sincerity going on underneath the surface of his thoughts and Rukia didn't think she was quite ready do deal with that. She could feel that Renji wasn't ready to have to tell her about it so by somewhat mutual agreement, they both ignored it in favor of getting down to business.

:**Speaking of heartstones**,: Renji said. :**I'm all but certain Aizen has one. You and I both know that he's not the sort of man to not have a back-up plan, and having a way to get around staying dead after one of us kills him is just the sort of thing he'd do. That's what I'm doing right now, tell the mortal Missy and miss Inoue-**:

:_Don't you mean **Hisana** and **Orihime**_?: Rukia questioned him archly.

:**I don't use names**,: Renji replied shortly. His emotional tones felt a little uncomfortable.

:_Why the heck not_?: Rukia demanded. :You can't possibly tell me that you've been traveling with Hisana-:

:**She's Isana in this incarnation**,: Renji corrected.

"_Isana then_,: Rukia said impatiently. :_You can't possibly tell me that you've been traveling with her all this while and you've never once called her by her name._:

:**Using names encourages familiarity**,: Renji explained. :**I never had any intention of getting close to the mortal woman**.:

There was a starnge cocktail of emotions swirling about but the strongest among them was resentment as Renji said

:**After all, she did put a geas on me; an obedience collar just like you'd put on a pup ta bring 'im ta heel**.:

Oh, Renji did not like that at all. Suddenly his ambivalence toward Rukia's reincarnated sister made a lot more sense. Rukia could sort of sound it out for herself... He was a proud warrior who valued his strength and independence, but then again, Renji, whether or not he'd admit to it, had a good deal of the Knight Errant in him. A damsel in distress wasn't something he could easily turn his back on. He was willing to help out someone who didn't have anyone else to turn to, added to that was an additional sort of familial obligation... Renji and Rukia had once been close as family once upon a time, and this Hisana-reincarnation could still be considered sort of as Rukia's sister, so Renji would probably feel some vague sense of obligation there. If any of that weren't enough, the woman, Mortal or not, was still considered to be his Captain's wife (her Elder Brother still considered himself very much a married man regardless of the fact that his wife was passed and reincarnated already) and Renji would very definitely feel an obligation there. But Renji had probably not liked being bound into service by force, regardless of whether or not he probably would have helped her out anyway.

:_Whatever, Renji_,: Rukia snapped, trying to ignore her empathy towards his very very mixed up situation he'd landed in. :_I just want to know why you didn't feel the need to inform my Honorable Brother about having found his wife!_:

Or if he weren't going to tell her brother, Renji should at least have told her about it!

:**I wanted to**,: Renji replied, clearly still uncertain about it. :**But the situation wasn't simple at all. She was detirmined to get her son back, even if it meant dragooning me into being her bodyguard while we played hopscotch across the Dangai. I knew nothing about who or what new enemy had taken him and also turned me mortal. I couldn't even prove that this mysterious new enemy of mine even existed, much less that Aizen was behind any of it. It was already an uncertain muddle, if I'd brought up the complication of his wife putting herself in the path of danger it would have only made things even more complicated than they already are**.:

True, at the very least her brother would have ordered his lieutenant to desist in his quest (which would have taken Renji off the one hope he had of undoing his unfortunate state of mortality). Generally speaking, Mortals were not alowed to come and visit the land of the dead while they were still alive, but in recent time exceptions to that centuries-old rule were flowing through it like water through a seive... if her Brother had wanted an exception made to ensure that Hisana was kept well out of harms way, Rukia was certain that one would have been made. If Byakuya Kuchiki had taken Renji and Isana off the trail of the Shadow that took her son and turned Renji mortal, they would not now have a way to bind the Shadows... heck, they probably wouldn't even have proof they even existed. More to the point, the battle with array in Hueco Mundo would have been a disaster of epic proportions if Isana and her spell had not been there to shut down the device properly.

In short, they had indeed been much better off with Renji keeping his counsel than they would have been if he'd decided to spill the beans about Isana. But all of that didn't change the fact that Renji was still in the doghouse.

:_You do realize that my Brother is going to have **Words** with you when all this is through,_: Rukia said with all of the malicious delight she usually derived from the anticipation of watching Renji get raked over the coals.

:**I don't think he's going to bother with words**,: Renji said with resignation. :**He'll probably just move right on to showing me the business end of Senbonzakura.**:

:_You are in soooo much trouble_,: Rukia said relishingly.

:**Don't I know it**," Renji said. "**But that's for another day. Right now, we've got bigger problems to worry about. I've got pretty much free run of the place, but everything I do is going to be monitored and reported back to Aizen. I don't know what he's up to now or what he plans on doing. I'd try to spy on him, but I think he's on the lookout for that, I really, seriously doubt he trusts my sudden conversion to the Dark Side**.:

:_Then why is he letting you run around free? Why wouldn't he just lock you up like the rest of us_?: Rukia questioned.

:**He thinks he knows me**,: Renji replied with a mental shrug. :**He's certain that I'm so obsessed with having my big show down with your brother that it's all I'm thinking of or care about right now. After all, he doesn't know that i know more about his plans than anyone else besides Yoruichi. He thinks I'm just some harmless dumb jock he can use at his own discretion. So I'll keep up my end of the ruse. I'll find that heartstone of his, I'm sure it's hidden in this place somewhere. I need you to do someting for me though. I need you to find a way to get in touch with your brother. He's being hidden in the West Wing, I don't know where exactly. That stone i gave you, my heartstone, it's also the keystone of this Realm. I've never actually tested it out, but if I'm not mistaken, I think it might give you some kind of mastery here. Try it out, but you really gotta promise me that you'll be very very very careful with what you do and how you do it. If Aizen catches you and finds that stone on me, we are all screwed beyond belief**.:

:_Why is that_?: Rukia asked in confusion.

She felt Renji hesitate for a very long moment, internally debating over what he should say to her.

_:Just **spill** it already_!: Rukia mentally snapped at him in irritation.

Sheesh, they were already connected by thier thoughts, now was not the time to be holding back.

:**Well... that stone is not just the keystone to this Realm. Heartstones... they aren't just storage devices for extra spiritual power, of you hold a person's heartstone, you hold their very essence in your hands. That stone would give a person, absolute and total mastery over me**.:

Rukia paused for one long, shocked instant while Renji waited for the implications of his statement to sink in. Renji had given her something that made the little obedience collar that isana had reportedly put on him look like a joke in comparison.

:**And if Aizen ever gets his hands on it**,: Renji continued. :**I'll be his minion in fact instead of using it as a cover to bring him down. He'll be able to find out any plan we make and he'll be able to coerce my loyalty and there won't be a damn thing I or anyone else can do to stop him. So please, just be careful okay**?:

:_Why in the world would you give me something this dangerous in the first place if you're going to play double agent_?" Rukia demanded.

:**It was the only way I could think of to keep you safe**!: he snapped back in exasperation. :**As long as you have my heartstone on you, even if you get moved across Realms, I'll still be able to find you. I couldn't trust that Aizen would keep us all in one place, and this was the only thing I could think of that would guarantee I'd be able to search you out and he couldn't hold you hostage in a different location against my and yer brother's good behaviour.**:

Well. That made sense.

:**Anyway, I want you to try using that stone to see if you can't magic up some kind of messenger servant or something. You're a smart girl, I'm sure you'll think up something, just be real careful when and how you do it. I can't have Aizen leaning about the heartstone. If you can get in touch with the Captain, tell him I'm looking for Aizen's heartstone. Once I find it, and I will find it, it'll give us an enormous advantage over him... if we can figure out a way of getting to it that won't alert the stone's owner. I know when I gave my heartstone to you, I was aware of the fact that it had left my possession, you can just feel it. Tell him also that Aizen gave yer sister a drink compounded from the water of Lethe, he said it's supposed to restore her memories from her past life, which wasn't very nice of him. I don't know what Aizen's game is with that one, other than maybe he's just cruel. I'll try and look into that one if I've got the extra time. Also, tell him that-**:

:_Geeze, okay okay_!: Rukia said mentally holding up a hand to cut him off so she could catch up.

:**Well, Captain needs to know these things if he's going to come up with a plan**,: Renji said pitilessly. :**Right now you're the only link I've got to making a full report. So, Aizen's heartstone, water of Lethe, Um...**"

She could sense Renji pause for a long moment to ruminate. It was strange to be able to almost feel him going over in his mind what he should reveal and what he felt might be better off keeping a secret for now. It distressed Rukia to sense how much her friend was holding back from her. It made her wonder a little bit if she even knew him at all anymore.

:**well, in for a penny, in for a pound I guess,**: he continued, apparently oblivious to the questions formed in her mind about him. :**I was going to tell him about it when I got back anyway and if he's going to plan effectively, he'll need to know this. Zabimaru has two forms.**:

:_Wait, what_?: Rukia demanded incredulously.

:**Yep**,: Renji said, his mental voice saturated with proud smugness. :**There's the snaketail form that I've been using for the last several decades that is one half of his power, but when I cleansed my chakra and unsealed my reiatsu from the binding marks that my zanpaktou put on me, the ones that everyone thinks are tattoos, I also unlocked his second form, the sword-form of Baboon King Zabimaru**.:

:_I've never heard of such a thing_,: Rukia said scornfully, and truth be told a little jealously.

Why the hell did he always insist on leaving her developmentally in the dust dammit!

:**That's because i have the most awesome zanpaktou in the whole seireitei**,: Renji replied, still smug. Then he turned serious.

:**Anyway, howl-form Zabimaru has three attacks, they're reiatsu-charged lightning-based attacks, and their level of power increases based on how many chakra I unleash. i can make it up to three with no problem, four is a bit of a struggle, but anything beyond that... well let's just say it probably shouldn't attempted for a while yet. Aizen doesn't know about the other form and if it comes down to it, we might be able to use the element of surprise to get the jump on him. Also, Rukia, this is very important. Tell the mortal**-:

:_Which one? I'm surrounded by them_,: she pointed out.

:**the one I've been traveling with**,: Renji said impatiently.

He was being really stubborn about not using Hisana's name. Had he really gone all of this time without calling her by it? She called Ichigo by his name all of the time, and she didn't even use the more formal "kurosaki-kun" that Orihime insisted upon. Then again, she considered Ichigo to be her friend, and it was very apparent that Renji's feelings for the mortal he'd sworn his protection to were far from being that simple.

:_Hey, Renji..._: Rukia said.

:**what**?: he asked, clearly impatient to finish imparting the whatever dire information he felt she needed to know.

:_How do you feel about her? I mean, you've been traveling with her for a while, you must feel something about her_.:

:**Could we _not_ talk about this right now**?: he growled frustratedly.

Rukia felt an ominous feeling clench in her belly. Renji wasn't answering the question. If he was as indifferent to Hisana as he claimed he would have come out and said that he didn't like her, but he'd just dodged the issue.

:**You're getting off track here. I need you to tell the mortal woman that no matter what happens, no matter how scared she gets or how Aizen provokes her, she absolutely must _not_ use that present I gave her**.:

Rukia felt herself go hot and cold for a long moment. Renji's urgent voice faded to the back ground as her simmering temper rose by several degrees. He had given her a _present_? What did he think he was doing, getting _another_ _woman_ presents? All the various implications of Renji giving resents to a woman danced before her eyes. Sure she might have been the reincarnation of her dear older brother's wife, but Rukia had looked at the woman for herself and she could see that her sister's new mortal form was very attractive, and now Renji was mortal too... he might have developed _feelings_ for her. That was the way things were supposed to work after all. A young man, bold and daring, aides a beautiful woman on her quest to rescue her son from durance vile, in any movie or story, they would fall in love with each other. If he was already givng her presents, that meant he was already wooing her because Renji only gave gifts to people who really mattered to him. He must have fallen for her, despite the consequences. Clearly, Renji wasn't worried about his Captain's anger; he'd already faced him down once, and if something was important enough to Renji, he'd fight for it tooth and nail. Looking over at her sister's reincarnation it was clear to see that she was as brave as she was beautiful, but she also looked mature and sophisticated as well, of _course_ Renji would fall for her!

:**Rukia**!: Renji snapped at her, interrupting her mental tirade before it could quite get started. :**Focus! We'll have plenty of time for your pet peeves later, however you want, but right now this is a matter of the Court Guard Squads and I need you focused and professional**.:

Rukia abruptly got it. This wasn't her friend Renji Abarai, the guy she pushed around, made fun of and picked on for her own amusement, she was currently speaking to Renji Abarai, Lieutenant of Squad Six. Rukia blinked and collected herself, trying not to feel too hurt by his treatment.

:_I'm... What else did you need me to relay_?: she asked still in a slight state of shock.

:**Okay, I also need you to tell Captain that I can't rescue him on account of that shadow-watcher attached to me. If I act out of character Aizen will know and our whole opperation will get blown out of the water. Sooner or later Aizen is gonna have the two of us out to fight each other like dogs in a ring, probably for his own amusement, I'm hoping to be able to find his heartstone before then. This place is huge, but I'll be able to sniff it out. I sort of have a vague idea but it's sort of risky. It involves Miss Isana, that's why I need her to keep what she can do a secret**.:

:_What can she do_?: Rukia asked.

:**I can't tell you. The less you know now, the less you might have to lie about later. But tell the Missy that it's about that thing I _really_ yelled at her for that one time. Her power is gonna be our ace in the hole**.:

:_Geeze, this is a lot to remember_,: Rukia grumbled to herself.

:**I have every confidence in you. You are the brains of this outfit remember, i'm sure you can keep everything under control. Oh, and by the way, there's a mirror in your chamber with you. Be careful around it, I'm not exactly sure what all it shows but it seems a little dangerous**.:

:_Is it magic? Did you look in it? What did you see_?: Rukia pried curiously.

Rukia felt Renji's internal guard go up to block her from sensing a very strange cocktail of emotions.

:**Let's just say that the phrase "be careful what you wish for" definitely isn't without it's truth**.:

And with that mysterious little statement, Renji cut off their connection and concentrated on getting his job done, leaving Rukia to figure out a way to make things happen on her own.

:..._His heartstone eh_?: Rukia thought to herself, looking down at the glowing stone in the palm of her hand, her mind turning over the implications of what little that Renji had told her about the stone. :_Absolute and total mastery over him. I wonder how far it goes? I wonder what I can do with this stone._:

* * *

**I have no Excuse... I'm just lazy. So sorry. ^_^..."**


	75. Reforging Bonds

When Renji cut off the mental connection from his end and continued on his search through the Katschei's castle for Aizen's heartstone, Rukia reluctantly allowed their connection to fade into the background.

:Typical Renji,: Rukia snorted to herself. :Charging in like an idiot and leaving me to figure out some way to keep everything else together. No wonder I don't have as many problems with Ichigo as any other Soul Reaper probably would… I have a lifetime of experience in keeping hot-headed idiots out of messes too big for them to handle by themselves!:

Soul Society should give her an award or something for all of the non-sense she had to put up with.

:And speaking of non-sense, how in the world do they expect me to just come up with a way to open communications with my elder brother? I can't just make it up by wishing for it!:

She had no idea how she was supposed to go about magicking up some kind of messenger to secretly carry the information to her brother, trying that communication spell that Lt. Kotetsu had used to communicate the message of Aizen's betrayal was a complex and delicate spell that was still outside of her ability to perform (and Aizen would be alert for it anyhow). Perhaps she and Inoue and Hisana, or Isana or whatever or who ever she was in this lifetime would be able to think something up.

Rukia looked over at her reincarnated older sister. Hisana was taller than she had thought she'd be. He skin was a light, healthy bronze. The resemblance to her former incarnation was unmistakable, but her current form looked older and wiser, more mature and capable even in sleep. She looked like an elegant noblewoman. Rukia could easily imagine her standing at her Elder Brother's side and not looking out of place, except that even in sleep her face was a mask of worry and misery. Clearly her dreams were being haunted.

When Rukia examined her surroundings, the silver and crystal mirror that was arrayed opposite their very beds caught her attention immediately.

:This must be the mirror the Renji was talking about,: Rukia thought, suddenly eaten alive with curiosity about it.

Now she sort of knew how Pandora had felt when Zeus had presented her with her box.

:I wonder what's so unusual about it...:

Rukia climbed out of bed, straightening her rumpled uniform. The fact that Renji had cautioned her about it just made her want to look at it even more. He should have known that about her, the moron. Rukia stepped closer to it and looked at her reflection. It started to waver, as though someone had thrown a stone in a still pond. The heartstone in her hand began to throb and hum slightly and it seemed to her that the mirror lit and dimmed in time to the rhythm that she was certain was Renji's heartbeat. They were resonating. A sudden spark of intuition told her that if she closed her eyes and commanded it, that, as the holder of the heartstone and de-facto mistress of Katschei's Realm, the mirror would show her _anything_ she asked...

Including the contents of the heartstone she held in her hands.

An unexpected tug of greedy curiosity, a very feminine wish to know all that was kept secret from her, pulled sharply at Rukia. The idea that she would finally get to know for certain, for once and for all, how Renji _really_ felt about her was a temptation too powerful to be resisted. Their interactions over the years had been filled with playful banter and teasing and bluster but she had always sensed that it covered up something entirely different. Sometimes she felt like they had given each other roles to fill and that there was something else there behind the role she had given Renji, but despite her self-proclaimed bravery in battle, Rukia had never been quite brave enough to ask about it. Part of it was that she thought she might just be projecting onto him what she secretly wanted there to be. She might be a Kuchiki, a rank so high in their world that even a Captain would consider it an honor to approach her, but it was something that had been bestowed on her. Renji might have been a "mere" lieutenant, but he had fought and worked and strove for every single one of his accomplishments on his own strength. In Rukia's mind that still sort of made him better than she. Love and sorrow, abandonment and competitveness, pride and insecurity were the mixtures of their simple and complicated relationship. She couldn't just _ask_ him how he felt about her, she might not (in fact, probably would not) hear an honest answer from him, both because of the impropriety of his attacking her noble brother's pride by presenting himself (a mere lieutenant) before her, and because... because he was Renji and she was Rukia and if he ever _did_ say something like "I love you" she'd never let him live it down. That was _also_ how their simple and complicated relationship worked.

But here... Rukia looked down at the glowing heartbeat she held in her hand. _Here_ she had all of the answers. She wouldn't have to ask permission, or try to wade through the tangled web of their complications to get at the truth, she could just look in and _see…_ and all of the answers she wanted would be _given_ to her. It was the same sort of temptation that came from accidentally running across someone's diary and wanting to read it. Rukia's heart sped up in excited anticipation as she looked back at the mirror and decided she was going to do it. She would see what secrets Renji's soul hid.

Her conscience, inconveniently, chose that precise moment to rouse itself and nag at her.

Renji had given her his heartstone both as a way to protect her and as a sign of his trust in her, she would be acting in very bad form, and betraying that trust, if she just forced her way in and started poking around in all the corners.

:_But it's not like he __**didn't**__ know it was a possibility_,: she rationalized to herself. :_He __**did**__ give me his heartstone after all, and if he did that knowing it was a possibility then he probably __**wants**__ me to look in there and see how he feels about me. Yeah, I'll bet he's just doing this as a way to get out of actually having to say the words_.:

The pang of guilt wavered a little in the irresistible pull of curiosity that led her to see what secrets he kept from her. After all, she was his oldest and bestest friend, he had no business keeping things from her. She'd just have a quick look... one quick peek and then she'd put it away. Renji wouldn't even have to know...

Rukia stood before the mirror that wavered and filled with light and held the precious stone cupped tightly in her hands, close to her chest so that she could feel the soothing spiritual presence emanating from it. She closed her eyes briefly and then opened them...

"Show me," she murmured.

"After all... I was the one who didn't let you go."

Rukia stared in rapt fascination at the scene that was engraved so indelibly in her own memory. The day that she was called out from her class and shown to a meeting hall to be greeted by the august personage of none other than the Kuchiki himself, decked out in the full regalia of his office with some of his elders in tow. She'd been shocked and confused by their sudden, strange and inexplicable offer, and truth to tell more than a little relieved when Renji came bursting in to rescue her.

But now she was reliving the moment from the other side of the fence, feeling Renji's thoughts and emotions on that day. So she felt the way he had _forced_ a smile on his face, _forced_ himself to pretend to be happy for her, _forced_ himself to hold back his own wants and dreams with her in order for Rukia to be able to grasp a once in a lifetime opportunity without being burdened by him, someone who wasn't good enough for her anyway. Rukia was dismayed, elated and confused all that the same time to discover that Renji's feelings were not at all what she had assumed them to be. Rukia had always sort of thought that, whatever her own budding feelings for her long-time friend had been, that they had been unrequited and even their friendship starting to fade a little as he apparently moved on without her. It came as something of a shock to her system to discover that that wasn't the way he felt at all. He'd let her go, in fact, pushed her away, because he _cared_ about her? What kind of crazy, mixed-up nonsense was that?

Before the realization could really sink in, Rukia was pulled sharply out of her little dreamworld, by the sharp sting of someone slapping her hand like she was a misbehaving five-year old.

"Bad Rukia!" an unfamiliar, yet somehow very familiar voice scolded her, like a mother reprimanding their child for misbehavior.

Rukia blinked and gaped in shocked surprise at the awake form of her reincarnated sister who looked like she was in full mama-mode and that Rukia was about to get scolded.

"You know better than that!: Hisana continued now that she had Rukia's full attention. "How would you like it if someone went around invading your privacy like that huh? What if Renji had gotten hold of _your_ heartstone? I'll bet you good money he wouldn't have looked in it if he'd had the chance. I'm surprised and disappointed in your behavior."

Hiana held out her hand palm up, with all the look of a mother set on confiscating her child's new toy for misuse of it.

"Come on, hand it over," Hisana said peremptorily. "If you can't be trusted to treat Renji's heartstone right, then you are clearly not mature or responsible enough to have it."

Rukia curled her hands possessively around the stone and turned her body protectively away from the older woman.

"It's mine!" Rukia snapped, not caring that she did in fact sound like a whiney five-year old. "He gave it to me."

"Yes and look what you went and did with it," Hisana rebutted. "That wasn't good of you Rukia, not good at all."

Guilt, mixed with a welter of other emotions, chiefly regret at lost opportunities welled up from within Rukia, making her suddenly start crying. Instinctively she dove for the nearest source of comfort, a woman who should have been a stranger, but whose aura spoke to Rukia on the deep and instinctive level, developed as a baby, of safety and comfort. Hisana caught her in her arms and held her, smoothing a soothing hand over her back.

"How could he keep this from me all this time?" Rukia sobbed. "Why wouldn't he _tell_ me? He could have told me, I would have understood..."

"There there, I know..." Hisana soothed.

"And he thinks he's doing me a _favor_? How could he just let me _go_ like that? I spent years feeling like someone's unwanted pet!" Rukia continued sobbing, and they were real tears, tears for all the chances missed and roads not taken. "I think I hate him a little for that, and how _dare_ he have loved me all this time and never once let on, never even hinted at it? _That_ Momo Hinomori knows more about his true feelings than I do!"

"Try to look at it from his perspective," Hisana counseled soothingly. "He probably only did it because he felt that it's what was best for you."

"Who does he think he is?" Rukia replied, eyes red and puffy now. "Who asked him to decide what's best for me?"

"True, _good_ love is always selfless," Hisana said. "I wish I could say I've always been a selfless person, but it seems that _that_ isn't true."

Now tears were welling up in Hisana's eyes. Guilt, an old, constant and familiar friend to Rukia Kuchiki welled up in the eyes of her sister's reincarnation as she opened her mouth, clearly to apologize.

"Don't start," Rukia said.

Hisana bit her lip and looked even worse.

"Look, Hisana..." Rukia said softly, looking deep into the eyes of her awakened sister. "I know you tried. I do. But... you were young. I mean, you couldn't have been more than what, twelve when you had me?

"Eleven," Hisana said soft and low. "I was eleven."

"Eleven isn't old enough to be essentially a parent, not in that awful place," Rukia continued. "You were still just a baby yourself, and you would have had reiatsu enough to feel hunger too."

"But I abandoned you, my little sister, my only family. I left you with strangers because I was scared and confused and I... I didn't know what to do. You wouldn't stop crying, and you couldn't eat anything I found for you and I kept getting weaker and hungrier. And... I was so selfish. I ran away because I wanted to eat and I couldn't carry you anymore."

"It's okay, Hisana, it's alright," Rukia soothed, comforting her this time. "I can imagine what it must have been like, lost and alone in a strange, terrible place burdened with something so heavy that it wears you down day in and day out. I think you were strong to try for as long as you did. But you got scared, it's okay, you were just a child. You couldn't be expected to be an adult. Everyone has them, you know..."

"Has what?"

"Moments in thier lives, certain points where we become something _other_ than who we are. Sometimes we can hold the line, but there are other times when its just too much and we do something we never thought we'd do. It haunts us, those decisions, those regrets. You can't take them back, no matter how much you wish it, you can only live on, trying to one day find another way to make it right."

"I went back," Hisana sobbed, begging with her eyes still. "I went back for you, I swear i did. But I couldn't find you anywhere. I looked. I searched for you everyday."

"I know. I know you did sister," Rukia said, sympathetic tears now welling up in her eyes. "And just the thought that there was someone out there, even if I didn't know it, who spent so much time and had so much love for me through my life just makes me very happy in a way I haven't felt in a long time."

They embraced once more, this time as sisters with wounds healed and bridges burned.

"Rukia, can you forgive me?"

"As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing left to forgive. I know what it's _like_, you know, to live every day, day in and day out, feeling utterly unworthy of being alive. I know how it feels to have every little happiness turn to ash in the wake of shame and sorrow."

"What happened?" Hisana asked, all motherly concern.

"I killed my lieutenant, a man I greatly respected and... admired maybe a little more than was proper," Rukia replied.

She told her sister the story of that night and how the events still haunted her. She'd never been able to confide them to anyone she thought would really understand. Her brother had gruffly congratulated her on doing her duty and Renji hadn't been available at that time to talk to, all of her squadmates (with the exception of the Captain and two First Seats) resented her for what she'd done, and even her dear captain, so understanding about everything else said that she had done the right thing by preserving Kaien's honor. Not one of them really understood. But Hisana did. Her older sister across two lifetimes held her and soothed her while Rukia at last cried out decades worth of grief and pent up emotions, finally letting go of the last vestiges of pain that lingered there in her heart. It felt good, and it built a bond between them that had been a long time in coming. When the last of Rukia's sobs dissipated, Hisana wiped the traces of tears from her face and smiled reassuringly at her younger sister.

"So now what?" Rukia asked, her voice just a little rough from recent greif.

"Priorities," Hisana replied succinctly. "I'm going to go check to see that my son is safe. Then, we're going to see what we can't manage about getting a handle on things around here. After all, it's pretty clear to me that we can't leave things up to the man, they'll just be stupid about it, plotting courses of action with far too much testosterone and property damage."

The two of them shared a very female look and rose as one to go and check on the young boy sleeping in the third bedroom. Isana bent over his form, tears of her own welling up in her eyes from sheer relief.

"He's here, he's okay," the young mother whispered to herself.

Then she straightened her spine and her face settled into an expression that, while still calm and kind, held something more of a valkyrie in it, all steel and resolve.

"He is well, but he is far from safe. As his mother it is my place to see that that situation changes. I believe that I owe this Aizen fellow more than a little repayment for all of this nonsense I have been through."

If Rukia herself had not felt the same way, she would have shivered a bit for what Aizen might just have coming to him.

"That's all well and good," Rukia said. "But as much as I dislike to rain on your parade, what can the three of us do that a full council of the most powerful fighters, strategists and ninjas that the Spirit Realm has to offer haven't been able to manage?"

"Well..." Hisana said, laying a finger aside of her cheek and cocking her head just so, the shine of intelligence in her eyes. "We shall just have to see about that, won't we?"

Her smile, much like the one that Captain Unohana had from time to time, was all womanly softness, but there seemed to be the black aura of danger hovering about it, like wind on the wings of a storm.

:No wonder she was able to stand beside Elder Brother with her head up,: Rukia thought to herself with a shiver. :She may look like an ordinary housewife but there's something about her that feels kind of scary. Like a mother hawk who has had its babies messed with and now intends to eat the perpertators.:

Resolutely, Hisana turned to leave the room with her son in it, softly shutting the door behind them and turning her attention onto other matters to be taken care of.


	76. Mirror, Mirror

When they went back out into the main room Orihime was just beginning to rouse. Rukia went over to explain things to her while Hisana investigated the mirror a little more closely.

"Mirror mirror on the wall," Hisana said jokingly.

She had said it jokingly, but the surface of mirror she addressed began to ripple like the surface of a pond that had had a stone thrown in it. On a hunch, Hisana requested

"Show me Renji."

Obligingly, the mirror settled on the image of the young lieutenant looking around the castle on his self-imposed quest.

"Freeze frame," she said and the image paused, exactly like a mortal world camera.

She shared a look with Rukia and Orihime and then said,

"I wonder what else this thing can do."

To answer the demand in her comment, the mirror split itself into several different sections, one showed an image of the morror showing other people and places, another showed itself showing one person or place at different times and a third image showed it acting as a map and a fourth showed someone stepping through the mirror out through the surface of a looking glass somewhere else just like stepping through a doorway.

The three of them exchanged another long look.

"How much would you like to bet that our kidnapper has no idea what this mirror is capable of?" Hisana said wryly.

"Let's make sure we keep it that way," Rukia said.

"Mirror Mirror," Orihime said, walking up to the silver frame. "Please show me how Kurosaki is doing."

Rukia exchanged another long speaking glance with her older sister, communicating that she felt a sort of older-sisterly amusement herself for the young red-haired woman and her very obvious feelings for their mutual friend. The mirror showed the temperamental youth, still dressed in his full Soul Reapers regalia, pacing frantically up and down the hall outside of one of the official looking corridors in Seireitei, with Sado and Ishida standing or leaning against a wall nearby watching him. He was clearly in a state. it was also just as clear that the others were worried, but knew they were unable to do anything without even the smallest lead on how to find their friend.

"Kurosaki," she murmured worriedly.

Sadly, though it seemed that the power of the mirror was great, her voice did not miraculously reach him.

"Hmm..." Hisana said, her face taking on the same sort of expression that Rukia's brother's face did when he was deeply considering something.

"Mirror, I need you to show me four things," she said firmly after a long moment. "I need a wire-frame map of this place showing all levels and passages, as well as markers showing the locations of ourselves, Sousuke Aizen, Renji and Byakuya Kuchiki. I need to see where all of the world gates are in this place. I need to see Aizen and what he is doing and I need to see Byakuya."

The mirror obligingly split into several different images. One showed Byakuya Kuchiki sitting in a small, bare room without any ornamentation, guarded outside and in by four very big and scary looking Shadows but he was as calm and utterly unruffled by such things and looked exactly as if he were sitting in his own tea house on his estate.

"Elder Brother!" Rukia said, breathing a sigh of relief at a minor fear she hadn't known she was holding in.

"He isn't even chained up," Orihime noted.

Her tone conveyed the idea that she understood why Aizen would not have found little ol' her to be a threat worthy of precautions, but that this man was a Captain of the Court Guard Squads and as such should have warranted a little more caution.

"That's some confidence that our captor seems to possess," remarked Hisana. She studied the image of her former husband a little more closely for a long moment, with an unreadable expression on her face, then smiled with a little private amusement.

"No wonder i cannot find a decent date on even a Friday night in this lifetime," she said with wry amusement. "It seems that I have already used up all of my good man-finding karma... probably for my next several lifetimes!"

That observation startled a small laugh out of the other two women and a moment later, tension broken slightly, they settled down to business. The wire frame map of the castle they were imprisoned in was a bit dificult to follow at first, but they found through experimentation that they would change directions and highlight different sections of the map to have a closer look at the kind of size and shae of all the rooms and corridors. It was Orihime, surprisingly, who seemed the most adept at it, after but a few moments of trial and experimentation she was able to select, deconstruct, manipulate and ascertain the different sections of maps, and even figured out a way to get the mirror to show real-time images of certain rooms she selected.

"It must be those video games she plays," Rukia muttered.

She'd tried the Mortal realm video game machines, and some of them were mildly entertaining. Rukia had tetris on her Soul Pager. However, those long ones that involved maps and quests and characters were simply too inaccessible to the busy Soul Reaper, Orihime it seemed had just the right sort of tilted thinking to make herself adept at figuring out new ways to do things with unusual resources.

When Rukia saw Renji on one of the wireframe images Orihime opened, it reminded her of the mysterious message that the red-haired ape had given to deliver to Hisana, marked urgent.

"Oh, I don't know if this makes any sense to you, but Renji told me to tell you that..." Rukia spoke carefully, reciting directly from memory. "Not, under any circumstances, no matter how much Aizen bullies you, are you to use that thing he gave you... especially the one that he got mad at you about that time."

Hisana blinked at her for a long minute, her mind clearly switching tracks from whatever she was thinking about to figuring out what Renji's message via Rukia meant.

"Ah, I see," she said at last, nodding to herself. "Yes, I suppose that definitely makes sense."

"Um, what did he mean? What was he talking about?" Rukia asked, by now eaten alive with curiosity about what Renji might be keeping a secret from her... and involving a gift to her sister no less!

"You're a Soul Reaper right?" Hisana said, seemingly changing the subject.

"I- ah, yes," Rukia said, mystified by the non-sequiter.

"Then I don't think I had better tell you," she replied. "The less you know now, the less you'll have to lie about later on. Plausible deniablity."

Rukia's brow furrowed in puzzlement and no little annoyance at being left out of the loop, but decided that it was wiser to drop it for the moment in the interests of getting on with their self rescue.

:It would be so great if we could be the one's to rescue brother!: Rukia thought to herself.

It always seemed like she (and Orihime) were always the ones being rescued, she wanted to be the heroine for a change. And wouldn't that just tick Renji off! The mental image of him; mister big, bad world-hopping, Shadow-killing, I-have-a-bankai-and-you-don't lieutenant bowed over in gratitude to her for saving him was a very satisfying one. She came out of her reverie to realize that her two comrades were looking at her a bit strangely.

"You had a sort of odd little laugh for a minute there Miss Rukia," Orihime said concernedly. "Are you okay?"

"It was just the thought of Renji groveling at my feet when I show up and win the day," Rukia said with a sharp grin of anticipation. Hisana looked dubiously over at her.

"You... um, you've seen him fight, yes?"

"Of course I have," Rukia scoffed. "We've even sparred together."

Rukia did not mention that during said spars, her older brother had been hovering somewhat menacingly (though of course his expression had been the same as it always was, cool and calm) in the background, and Renji hadn't used his bankai during it at all... but still... she had fought him. Just, maybe not at full strength was all. She had always used to be able to pound him flat when they were kids, so she shouldn't have any trouble now...

Her mind flickered back to what his latest bankai had looked like as he sliced his way through enemies that had given even Ichigo a split second to pause and scratch his head. And she reluctantly also remembered that he had said something to her brother about having a slightly stronger sword now due to some kind of special training he'd been doing. As well as what he had looked like on the battlefeild of Shadows.

:That makes it all the more important to show him that he's still not at my level," Rukia thought nervously to herself.

Back when their relationship had been close, they'd been more or less equals, but that had changed when they'd entered school together. For the first time in their lives there had existed an inequality between the two of them, and that inequality had created a gap that had grown and grown and grown, widening into a seemingly uncrossable chasm when she'd joined the Kuchiki's. Ichigo had managed to bridge that gap, and Renji's rank as her brother's lieutenant had begrudgingly kept that bridge in place, but Rukia found that she resented the need for a bridge at all. She wanted to be better than him, she sort of always had. They had always kind of been in competition and part of her was still irked that the big, dumb lummox who wasn't as fast as she was or as strong as she was always seemed to have everything so good and easy. Social rank was one thing, but this wasn't about noblewoman versus mere-lieutenant, this was about Renji versus Rukia. Renji talked big about not protecting a warrior of the field but she knew deep down that he had to feel that he was a better fighter than she was. Rukia wanted to show him he was wrong about that. She was his equal in martial strength and skill. And if she was his equal, then there was no reason why they shouldn't be able to look each other in the eyes. There was no need for that idiot to look elsewhere.

Rukia looked over to see her sister giving her this look of (partly amused) melting pity.

"What?" Rukia demanded, nettled.

"Perhaps you should see a little something so you can really understand," she replied.

The images that had been on the mirror all cleared to tiny, postage-stamp sized pictures off to one side as Hisana touched the mirror again.

"Mirror, show us all my journey with him."

The mirror, as if playing a movie, displayed the story of their first meeting (in which he had been naked, and unlike in Hollywood movies, the camera angle didn't block anything out, sadly for the audience, Renji's body was entirely obscured by shadows.) It showed their trip up to the mountain, the geas placed on him by the mountain spirit, their journeys through different Realms with his new sword and how he used it to kill Ferals.

"Renji has... a different shikai?" Rukia said in disbelief and amazement. "I've never seen or heard of such a thing."

The closest she had ever heard of to having two different shikai's was her Captain's, and the Captain's of Eighth Squadron's, zanpaktou, which had two swords, but that was in a single shikai. Renji's Zabimaru clearly possessed an entirely alternate form with alternate abilities. Impressive ones.

"It would seem so," Hisana replied with a shrug. "During our entire journey that's the one he has been using up until he pulled that giant snake from out of no-where. He says he's been training his abilities."

"Hmph!" Rukia said with a toss of her head. "He still probably sucks at kido."

Whatever else his ability, and no matter how great his strength became, at least she still had that over him. The images of him fighting and gaining ever greater power and control over his new shikai made her worry just a little on the inside if it wouldn't be long before he surpassed her completely, to such a degree that she wouldn't catch up.

They continued watching the tale of their journey through the Realms of the Dangai; the defeat of the katschei in this very Realm they were in, then their continuing quest, the elves, the Shadows, the Realm guardians, more ferals, her budding abilities... Isana clearly ordered some details glossed over. But both women present were shocked to discover about Yoruichi's very obvious amorous pursuit of him in a nearby spring one morning.

"I had no idea!" Hisana said, looking aghast and slightly irritated.

"I'm going to have a talk with her next time I see her," Rukia muttered in agreement.

Their anger found a far more available target when they discovered about Renji's little trysts in the Wood while Hisana had been busy training with the Mi'kote.

"Why that little tomcat!" Rukia said in outrage.

"I know! The nerve! And he didn't say one thing about it," Hisana seconded also clearly outraged about it.

"And with three of them!" Rukia said, scandalized when she saw the way that the other bunny-girls threw themselves at him.

The movie was paused right then and there.

"Renjiii!" Rukia yelled, calling up his image on screen and opening a channel via his heartstone. "You have some explaining to do!"

"Wha-?" he asked, clearly bewildered.

"Those bunny-girls you dallied with!" Rukia snapped, letting him feel the full brunt of her displeasure with him.

"Oh. That," Renji said, she felt his discomfort.

"Yes that," she bit out icily.

"How'd you find out about that?" he asked curiously.

"Never you mind that," Rukia retorted. "What did you think you were doing? You think that just because they're available and willing, that its okay for you to act like some kind of... of..."

"Brainless philanderer," Hisana cut in.

"Yes," Rukia afirmed.

"Debaucherer of innocent women."

"Yes!" Rukia seconded.

"Morally bankrupt seducer. Rake. Roue. Skirtchaser. Womanizing playboy!"

"All of the above! Rukia agreed wholeheartedly.

They could all see Renji reflexively duck his head in the mirror from wherever else in the castle he was. He was clearly caught flatfooted at having been found out for his exploits.

"Don't take this th' wrong way or nuthin' girls, but all the terms you just used apply to men who go out looking for women to seduce. With what happened with these girls, the terms don't quite apply the way ya use 'em."

Renji could probably all but hear Rukia's angry foot-tapping, for he quickly added

"Put it bluntly, I didn't go look for them, they came ta me."

"That's no excuse," Hisana said sharply. "A gentleman would have politely declined."

"Elder Brother would have," Rukia added piously.

"Well, no offense but me and Captain are two very different kinds of men."

"Clearly," Rukia and her sister said in unison.

"Look, I know you ladies are probably determined ta be mad at me for it no matter what I say, but try and see it this way; those girls knew they couldn't keep me, but I was their only chance at gettin' what they really wanted. I'm not saying it was right exactly, but it wasn't as terrible as you two make it out ta be. Everyone involved went in with their eyes open... and..."

Renji's tone turned just a little chiding and upset in return.

"It's nobody's business but the peoples involved. I kept it discrete because I knew you girls'd take it the wrong way, especially the mortal missy raisin' a kid on 'er own, but when all's said an' done, I don't think you have much ta chide me on. I turned down Yoruichi when she offered, I ain't so much as laid a finger on the mortal missy though there's been plenty of opportunity, so clearly the terms, rake, womanizer, skirt-chaser, and whatever the hell a roue is don't apply."

"You sound like you're justifying it."

Renji shrugged.

"Say what you like, it is what it is. They got what they wanted from me."

Rukia opened her moth to hit him with another scathing remark but paused because the heartstone she held let her sense for the first time, some of the things he kept hidden behind a mask she hadn't even known existed until recently. Rukia was surprised to discover that under the defensiveness was a welter of other emotions about the episode. Even if he was acting cool and unapologetic about it, Renji was sad in his way. He'd known going in that he was essentially being used as a walking sperm bank and while he hadn't been overly wild about the idea he'd went along with it because he'd felt sorry for the women involved. It wasn't compassion by the classic definition (and most would have agreed with Rukia if she'd said Renji was getting the better part of the deal) but it was a sort of Renji-style compassion. If he didn't have much, he'd share what he had unstintingly, that was something Rukia had known about him from the first day they'd met.

"Well," Rukia grumbled, some of the wind taken out of her sails. "Just because you have women flinging themselves at you doesn't mean you can just take them up on it anytime you want. You're an officer in the field after all, you should be doing more important things than dallying about with loose women."

Rukia could sense that he would have liked to retort, but also felt that it was a waste of time to argue.

"Yes, missus," he settled for instead. "Any word on getting lines of communication open to Captain yet?"

"We're working on it," Hisana said, her tone indicating that she would have still liked to chide him, but since her younger sister had dropped the subject, she was willing to let it slide. "Have you found his heartstone?"

"Not yet, this place is enormous," he said. "You girls be careful. I dunno what Aizen's got up his sleeve, but it can't be good. Please see what you can't do about getting me in touch with Captain."

The connection cut out as Renji went back to his search so Rukia and Hisana shrugged, banished the image of Hisana's adventures replay and got back down to business.

"Renji did say something about this heartstone giving me some kind of authority in this place," Rukia said consideringly after a few minutes of brainstorming with the two of them to try to figure out a way to establish the line of communication that Renji had requested.

"Maybe you could just ask and receive," Orihime suggested hopefully.

"It can't be that easy," Rukia said skeptically.

"We loose nothing by trying it," Hisana said philosophically.

Rukia shrugged and said

"Mirror mirror, show me something that will enable us to create a covert line of communication between two people."

Several images appeared showing an array of different odd-looking atrifacts, books, jewels, weird-looking conglomerates of indescernable objects.

"well, I suppose we take our pick then," Hisana remarked.

"I wish we knew more about them," Rukia remarked.

Orihime found that when she tapped on an image, it enlargened and writing scrolled next to it, telling what the object was and how it worked.

"Useful, this thing, I think I'll keep it," hisana said, only half-joking.

The three of them browsed through the communication objects, debating the merits of each, and at last settled on the one they thought would best suit thier purposes. It looked like a a set of several small silver hairpins, each with an opalescent jewel on the tip of it, that, when touched to the power of the master of the Realm (that by default being Rukia now that she held renji's heartstone) could open lines of surface thought communication between the different pins.

With great trepidation, Rukia decided she would try out that "putting herself through the mirror" bit that she had seen portrayed earlier. The mirror obligingly rippled over, like a silver pond turned sideways, and with some trepidation, Rukia slowly put her hand through it and then her face into it so that she could look and see what she was doing. To her great surprise and secret delight, she found indeed that she was in fact in another room entirely. She quickly scooped up the objects she had went for and thenducked back into her "prison" chamber.

"Doesn't seem like much of a prison now that I know we can go pretty much anywhere via one of these mirrors," Rukia remarked even as she and her sister started setting up the pins to work as they had seen.

"Now the only trouble remains planting one of these on Captain Kuchiki," Orihime remarked.

"Leave that to me," Hisana said with confidence.

Rukia and Orihime exchanged a glance.

"I know there's probably a mirror near Mister Kuchiki's chamber," Orihime said a little hesitantly. "But I don't think It would be a good idea to mirror-travel about at will. Aizen's bound to catch us if we do and then we'll loose our best way to beat him."

"Oh I don't intend to leave this chamber without permission, but I won't have to," Hisana said with easy confidence. "After all, the evil mastermind thinks he has plans for me, and even the most rigid of jailers allow at least this one small thing."

"And what's that thing?" Rukia questioned dubiously.

Hisana smiled a small, serene (but somehow very smug) smile.

"Conjugal visits."

* * *

**LOL.**

**Thank you so much to those who reveiwed and I'm sorry it took for freaking ever to get this chapter out. I blame Skyrim. I'm playing right now as a matter of fact, my controler needed to recharge and I thought, I promised myself I'd upload a new chapter for War 90 and Bloody Roses who have been waiting on pins and needles apparently. (BR I'm so sorry to hear about your hand, I hope you feel a lot better soon! In the meantime, this should cheer you up). **

On a side note, if anyone has seen the anime Legend of Twelve Kingdoms (and if you haven't go watch it, it's really well done!) I'm going to be starting to post a new fic for it. It's a pretty obscure fandom, so if anyone wants to take a look at it i'd welcome the traffic and the extra readers. ciao!


	77. Lost and Found

Byakuya Kuchiki was not a man accustomed to the sort of nonsense he currently faced. In the history of the illustrious Kuchiki Family, the Head of the House (regnant) had only been captured twice, and on both occasions had seen the person foolish enough to make the attempt disposed of properly... and permanently. That he had allowed his own capture at all was an ignominy that severely wounded his pride, but what else could he do? Hisana was there before him and determined to brave the fire for a youngling in need of her protection, in good conscience how could he have acted otherwise? She did not remember him, the crossing of the River Lethe between lifetimes had taken all of her previous memories, both joy and shame alike, but his feelings had remained unchanged. it did not matter to him that she knew him not, she was his wife and always would be.

:_And now about that Renji_...: he thought to himself, slightly irritated.

It would seem that his young lieutenant's recent adventures AWOL had given him too large a penchant for thinking for himself at a great inconvenience to his commanding officer.

:_'On the winning side' indeed. I shall see that he does all of his own back-log and the work of the First Seat as well. Such impudence!_:

Byakuya was not impressed with his naive young officer's sad and transparent attempts at maneuvering himself to an advantageous position to act as a double agent. He was rather proud of the boy for trying it, after all, Byakuya himself knew how very very easy it was to underestimate the young fighter, but he could not for a moment believe that Aizen could possibly be fooled by such nonsense.

:_He will have put safeguards on Abarai to keep him from acting in a manner counter to Aizen's own interests_,: Byakuya surmised to himself.

He had nothing else better to do than to strategize right then any way.

The two Shadow guards within his rooms abruptly stiffened, and the door to his bare chamber opened to reveal the former trusted Captain of Fifth Squad, Sousuke Aizen. Byakuya recalled how he himself had once trusted and respected this man as one of the better of his fellow Captain's, his manners had been impeccable and his conversation not at all dull.

"Good afternoon Lord Kuchiki," Aizen said, exactly as though they were meeting outside of the Great Council Chambers after one of the Captain's Meetings. His tne was pleasant and conversational, but this man was the enemy and therefore, undeserving of the least of Lord Kuchiki's consideration. He simply stared back at the man in cool silence.

"Ah, I see you have made yourself quite comfortable," Aizen said, for all appearances willing to ignore the rude silence and the wealth of contempt that it conveyed.

"That is well. I had a small late lunch with your enchanting late wife-"

Byakuya twitched involuntarily in protective fury. he did not do anything so inelegant as ball his fists, but the single narrowing of his impassive gaze into one of eagle-like sharpness was all that was necessary to convey the threat. if Aizen had harmed her in any way, he would not be around for very much longer to enjoy the fruits of his work.

"I have graciously done you an favor, comrade to comrade, seeing as we are old colleagues," Aizen continued, acting not the least concerned for his captive abrupt attention.

"The former Lady Kuchiki, it seems has been remiss in the placement of her memories, but such sad things do happen, lifetime to lifetime I am told. But no need to worry, you will find on your next meeting that her memories of her proper life and station have all be restored."

Byakuya frowned. Clearly he should have been elated to have his wife back properly, but the one responsible for such restoration was his enemy, and clearly one with his own game to play.

"Perhaps it will be a trifle confusing at first to have two sets of memories, but since there appears to be no real rival for her affections in her current incarnation i foresee no real difficulties in wooing the young woman back to your side..."

Aizen paused theatrically.

"Well, but I suppose there is him..."

Byakuya continued to stare impassively back to his gloating warden, waiting for the axe to fall.

"Your young Lieutenant has been on quite the journey with her in her current incarnation. Traveling together, eating together, no doubt he was there to keep her warm and safe. At night. Alone."

Aizen seemed to be enjoying his insinuations. Byakuya Kuchiki knew better however. His lieutenant might be stupid at times, but he wasn't quite that stupid. In addition to that, Renji's loyalty was clad stronger than steel. His heart belonged to Byakuya's young adopted sister end of story. The young warrior had already faced battles that were all but guaranteed to spell his own demise for her sake and Kuchiki had the measure of him, once Renji's heart and mind were united on a point there was nothing that would turn him aside from it. _That_ Aizen could insinuate until the Spirit King came down from his throne, but Byakuya knew better. If Renji had decided that he was going to play traitor it was because he thought it was a way to help Rukia in the end.

:_It did get him taken with us all to where Aizen has built his new nest, so I suppose as strategies go it is not a total loss_,: Byakuya thought consideringly.

Byakuya would have had to have been possessed of both idiocy and blind optimism before he would have entertained the notion that his dense, somewhat foolish (though invariably good-hearted and loyal) young Lieutenant could actually fool a man like Sousuke Aizen into believing that he'd switched sides all of a sudden. Since hte Head of Clan Kuchiki and Captain of Sixth squad possessed neither, he could only surmise that Aizen had a reason for letting the boy run about without a proper leash and collar on.

"I hope that you are not awaiting my gratitude for your actions," Byakuya replied coolly, since it was clear that his nominal captor was awaiting a response and the Captain of Sixth was interested in keeping the conversation going for the sake of trying to discern what the trickster's plans might be.

"Perhaps, but it seemed to me such a waste to do otherwise. Your Lady and your Lieutenant seems to have been getting along so swimmingly. After all they have been through together it would be surprising if there had not developed a bond between them, and she does look strikingly like his own unrequited love."

As if Byakuya wasn't agonizingly aware of the resemblance. Nearly every day for fifty years it had stabbed him through the heart, having to look at his precious wife's face on the a person who had been all but a stranger to him.

"Your point?" Byakuya said with unruffled calm.

"Abarai might be more interested in defeating you for a prize he has a hope of winning."

With that with a final small smile that was probably supposed to convey the idea that there was something that Aizen knew that Byakuya Kuchiki didn't, he exited the cell and Kuchiki was left alone with his thoughts.

Unlike the scattered, whirling petals of Senbonzakura, Byakuya Kuchiki was possessed of a neat and orderly mind one that could take a look at every facet of a complicated situation, weigh and analyze it minutely and then draw the conclusions. He did not rush headlong into situations... that was one reason why he kept his young and impulsive Lieutenant about. Renji could rush into a fight with all of the elegance of the proverbial bull in the china shop, but when the situation called for finesse and strategy, the Captain stepped up.

He set aside his emotions on the matter, which were more than ready to simmer with suspicion at the mere insinuation that his own subordinate would dare come close to his wife. The situation with Renji and Rukia was complicated on more than one level, in that matter there was some justification to Renji feeling that his Captain was the interloper, intruding on what had been a personal relationship between them (though how personal it had actually been Rukia had never said, and Byakuya had never asked). Renji involving himself with Byakuya's wife was another matter entirely. When this particular situation had been resolved the two of them were going to have a long and in-depth discussion of certain details that his young Lieutenant had (apparently purposely) left out of his feild reports.

:_Aizen came here specifically for the purpose of insinuating that there is an improper relationship between Lieutenant Abarai and my wife. He is well aware that when I allow my emotions to enter the arena, I weaken myself as a fighter. Against a man like Abarai my intellect and superior training are what allow me to triumph. It is a given already that Renji and I will fight one another, the conditions of Renji's loyalty to Aizen stipulate that the two of us will duel. So, Aizen is merely trying to manipulate me psychologically_.:

That told him that Aizen likely wanted him dead and out of the way, but why bother restoring Hisana's memories? It was not like he had anything to gain by doing so. Or if he did have something to gain by doing so, Byakuya could not fathom what it was... and that worried him.

Aizen's master plan at Hueco Mundo was an utter failure thanks to Hisana's intervention (with apparently Renji's and Yoruichi's assistance) perhaps he desired revenge against her. But it seemed far more likely that Aizen would devise a use for her seeing as he had her son hostage. Byakuya forced himself to ignore the simmer of rage that bubbled up at the mere idea of anyone, especially his enemy coercing his wife in any form. It was more than an assault on his pride.

:_Even Abarai is aware that, on the level of emotional ties and attachments, Aizen is a master manipulator_.:

The last conversation that Sixth's Captain had shared with his Lieutenant had brought that home well enough. Renji might not be politically savvy, but when it came to interpersonal relationships he was possessed of an animal instinct.

:_I would be more foolish than I often claim my young subordinate is if I fell into the trap so easily_.:

He was no fool. So, being that he was not a fool, a wise man would try to discern what the manipulator was trying to manipulate him into.

:_It was a very clear and obvious attempt to create jealousy on my part toward Abarai, perhaps with the intention of making me irrational enough to kill the boy instead of merely almost killing him as I had done the last time we crossed swords._:

That would suggest that it was Abarai that Aizen wanted dead but that made no sense, if the Captain had wanted him dead, disposing of him would have posed no great challenge.

:_I will have to assume that it was merely an attept to what is that Human World phrase that Rukia uses? Ah yes... "psych me out" I believe is the term_.:

Aizen had already taken full advantage of the rift between the Captain and the Lieutenant of Sixth Squad during the debacle with Rukia. He would assume by Renji's words (and his sudden switch in loyalty) that the rift between them still existed. None of this explained Aizen's decision to restore Hisana's memories however.

:_I like this not... and I worry about leaving my impulsive and dense young Lieutenant running about without supervision._:

* * *

Hisana/ Isana found it more than just a little disorienting being in possession of two different sets of memories from two different lives. if she hadn't gotten sort of accustomed to seeing ten impossible things before breakfast in her time down the rabbit hole over the last few weeks, she would definitely have been having a much more difficult time of it. As it stood, she found that she now had an explanation for some of the strange and inexplicable feelings that had lingered on in her current life. She could certainly see why none of the young men she'd met in either High School or College, or the ones that her friends had tried to fix her up with, had appealed to her in the least. It was like comparing something to something else.

:_I've been married_!: she thought to herself for the hundredth time since she'd woken up.

She felt a stir of elation at the idea. In her life in the mortal world she had spent her entire adult life going it alone, with no-one to cling to, no-one to rely on, no-one to tell her it was going to be okay. She had dreamed of having a husband! Someone strong, and steady, who would love her and care for her and help her raise her son. Someone who really valued her for the person she was and someone she could love and care for in return. Her previous memories (which were beginning to feel more natural as time went on) told her that their marriage had been one of mutual love, trust and affection, and that though there was a consciousness of their vastly differing stations it had mattered not a whit in thier feelings for each other.

When their eyes had met just briefly across the battlefield she had felt such a strange and overwhelming feeling overtake her. It was like in that instant she knew him, deep down beyond the level of thought, and even heart, she knew his soul. She'd never before believed in the term soulmate, but it truly had felt like something in her had resonated with him, like there was a strange thread that tied thier hearts that had suddenly tightened and thrummed, letting her see all of the contents of his in exchange for all of the contents of hers. It was like all of the missing bits in her heart had come trickling back into place, and she hadn't known they were missing until she felt suddenly whole again.

:_I know I've definitely never felt anything like this in this lifetime_,: Hisana thought, just a little sadly.

Over the course of their time together Isana had naturally developed feelings for her tall, red-haired protector. Really, how could she not have? Sure he was a little rough around the edges but he was handsome in his own way, strong and brave and dedicated to keeping her safe. He'd helped her out when she needed it most and never asked anything of his own in return. He'd even gone as far as showing her the way to becoming strong herself, Renji was kind as well, it was a rough sort of kindness but she could sense its underlying care and concern. On the mental checklist of "husband material" that she was sure every woman possessed in their minds, Renji had earned top marks for the most part.

:_But we just didn't fit_,: she thought with a small sadness tinged with regret.

She'd tried herself to force the connection a little bit, reasoning that since he was already so in love with someone else, that since it was unrequited it wouldn't be that hard for her to turn his affections her way... but Renji had remained obdurate. Once his heart and mind were made up that was it, that was all she wrote. She could admire (and covet for herself ) his unwavering devotion, but it had frustrated her a bit from time to time. And looking back on it now she could see for herself that her efforts had only been half-hearted, partly because she was more preoccupied with her quest to rescue her son, but also because her heart really hadn't been in it. Renji had been kind to her, and good to her, at a point in her life when she hadn't known much of either in a very long time. She was lonely, but when he had been there she wasn't lonely anymore (frequently terrified for her life, but not lonely). However, now it was abundantly clear to her that kindness was not love, at least not love as she had known it so it was for the best that Renji had been singularly resistant to her attempts to gain his attention.

:_I wonder if Byakuya-sama is still single_,: Hisana wondered to herself, a little bemused that her thoughts automatically still called him Byakuya-sama.

:_**Hisana** huh_?: she thought, her train of thought abruptly derailed.

After a moment of reflection on her alternate name she found that she liked it quite as much as she liked her usual name. It was only the difference of a letter and he hadn't liked having a name that began with a vowel because there had been people that had annoyingly mispronounced it countless times by daring out the I sound from the 'i' in 'pit' to the 'ee' in 'weed' calling her 'eeesana' and she really hated that. The 'h' in front of it would automatically shorten the vowel sound.

:_I might just keep it_,: she thought to herself. :_Just for the sake of keeping name pronunciation simple_.: That and she rather liked the sound of it, she could see it growing on her.

:_Of course, it probably wouldn't even matter to Renji_.:

Hisana had been very conscious of the fact that he had never once called her by her given name, or even by her last name. He usually just called her 'Missy' or _Mortal_ if he was trying to remind her of the difference between them.

She shook her head to clear it and tried to refocus her attention on what she had been doing. Rukia was sitting nearby, working out how the communication devices were activated. Orihime was still working on the mirror.

"Hey guys, come look at this," she called over to the two of them.

She and Rukia both curiously went over to see what Orihime had found.

The two screens she had selected out showed the large room with the familiar shape of the World Gate that they had passed through to enter that Realm and another room with a smaller gate. The other room showed a large room that looked exactly like an old-style gladiatorial ring with a sunken fighting area filled with sand and ringed with seats. A large balcony-like area faced with an enormous throne jutted out over the sands and the rim of the sunken area was edged in glowing sigils of intricate spell-work. Hiana recognized than as belonging to containment spells.

The young woman had the mirror spin back to the last time that the room had been used and the image showed the miserly old Katschei ordering his magical servants to lead out two great magical construct-beasts, chimera-like in form, to the ring and set them at each other so that he could gauge their effectiveness. The battle was like a melee between giants, the chimera sometimes even changed forms. When the battle was over one of the construct-beasts lay dead on the sands and the other beast, either high on its victory or instinctively attacking the next form of life nearby, started rampaging about trying to break out of the containment area. The beast was powerful and specially constructed to be resistant to most forms of magic, so the containment spells on the ring were shrugged off. After a great deal of effort, the katschei managed to subdue the beast and sent it flying into the smaller gate back at that end.

:_That gate looks different from most of them_,: she thought to herself.

Most gates were arches of ordinary stone with a dial-array for setting the gate to the coordinates of other worlds already et in it. This gate had no location array and was made of stark, black stone, bound by black iron and settled with a great many chains and locks that practically bristled with containment magic.

"The mirror says that this world gate only leads to one place," Orihime reported. "A pocket dimension of the Katschei's own devising that is a stark, useless void designed to absorb magic and spiritual power alike. It's where he puts the experiments that he deems too dangerous to remain in his Realm, and yet too powerful to dismantle."

"Hmmm," Hisana murmured, looking at the Gate consideringly.

The beginnings of a plan began to form in her mind.

* * *

After a great deal of searching, and by that point Renji found that he genuinely was growing hungry, he at last found himself in a place that looked like what he might be looking for. It was a long hall-like room, dimly lit giving it more the feeling of a giant walk-in closet. Lining the walls on each side of the room were identical, and identically creepy-looking, statue-like manikins. Instead of all being identical statues with the exact features of the person who would inhabit them, like the gigais created by Urahara, they were all androgynous wax-like figures, without any discerning facial features, as nondescript as melted wax doll figures.

:_Creepy_,: Renji thought with a shudder, looking down the long line of melted-wax doll figures with thier blurry faces and stuck-together limbs.

:this must be what the Katschei used for his new body when he was done with his old one at the end of a lifetime,: Renji thought to himself, looking around him and trying to shake off the feeling of collywobbles.

After all, he was Katschei the Deathless, but he wasn't immortal in the same way that the Reapers of the Court of Pure Souls were. He knew that Head-Captain Yamamoto was centuries (some even hinted millenia!) old. A soul that produced powerful enough reiatsu to take up a post as a Death God would live until accident, illness or injury killed it enough to shuffle it off into its next incarnation. Katschei had bound his soul up into the power of a heartstone and anchored it into this Realm, so that when the "body" he inhabited aged through its natural life-cycle, he could simply vacate it and move on to the next. Renji wonder absently as he sniffed around for the Heartstone he knew had to be hiding in there somewhere, if the term Deathless was entirely accurate.

:_After all, he sort of dies over and over again, he just stays out of the Wheel of Rebirth_.:

Renji continued searching through the long rows of creepy blank melted-wax featured bodies for a whiff of Aizen's spiritual presence and at long last, came upon it! Trying not to be too obvious about it Renji zeroed in on it like a hound detecting its quarry.

:_And **there** you are!_: He thought, trying hard to hide his smile of triumph.

Hidden in among all of the other bodies, buried deep in the chest-cavity of one of the many many non-descript corpses, was the heartstone that Aizen had made for himself. It was larger than Renji's, about the size of a robins egg and it glowed with power, pulsing slightly to the rhythm of Aizen's non-existant heartbeat.

:_I guess it's like Kira says, the best place to hide a book is in a library. Well, now I know where it is, I just need to know what I should do with it_.:

It was a stroke of luck really that Renji had had his own heartstone. Because of that, he knew that the possessor of a heartstone would be able to magically know when his heartstone had left his possession. If he hadn't known that then he would most likely have picked up the stone for safekeeping and Aizen would have known about it and the game would have been up. No, now Renji knew enough to merely locate the stone and leave it be for the time being.

:_I sure wish I was in touch with Captain right now_,: Renji thought, caught completely at loose ends.

He had a lot of the pieces, but putting them together into a strategy was something that Captain Kuchiki was just simply better at than he was.

:_Tch! Just look at me_,: he thought a little ruefully. :_I spend a few weeks away from home and turn into a sentimental moron_!:

Next thing he knew he'd be writing poetry and be the guy at the party shouting "group hugs." Then his mind tried to supply the image of what would happen if he ever tried any such thing in Sixth Division… and it broke.

:_Well, we have enough advantages to give Captain something to work with, we'll just have to take it from here I guess_.:

It was strange the faith he had in his Captain's ability to get them all home safe.

:_But that might not be too surprising I guess, if nothing else I know he'll get the ladies out of here… Orihime's an innocent civilian caught up in Seireitei maters against her will, that guarantees her protection, Rukia is his sister and Hisana is his wife. I'm the only expendable one here and if I have to use up my life getting them out safe, then I'll consider it well spent… but_…:

He hefted Zabimaru and considered all they had been through together to gain greater strength.

:_I'm not just planning on rolling over and presenting my neck either_.:

* * *

**Yay! New chapter! This is the last of what I've got pre-written, I know how the story ends (sort of) but as usual, its mustering up the enthusiasm to put in the effort to get there. Your reveiws help a lot! Happy new year by the way, I had thought about posting up the first chapter or two of a fic I deemed suitable enough, the problem is that I can't decide which one. Maybe you guys can help? Here are the options...**

**Would you rather read a steamy, heavily lemoned (but still in-character) crack-pairing with Renji, or would you rather have a sweet, slightly humorous (for me anyway) fluffy love-pairing with Renji and Rukia in which nothing works out the way anyone predicts? **

** I'm nervous about posting a lemon, it seems so racy and out of character for me plus I don't know if it'll be well received since I went out of my way to find the most unusual pairing I could think of to put him in. But on the other hand the Renkia is never quite to my satisfaction either, it just feels like its missing something.**

**Or maybe that's just my writers' perfectionism coming out again. Help? Please?**


	78. Sweet Serenity

The small Shadow that Aizen had sent her with a note penned in elegant calligraphy waited with interminable patience while Hisana finished getting herself ready.

"Miss Isana," Orihime suggested politely. "Perhaps you should not want to keep him waiting."

Isana smiled her polite, gentle Lady smile at her, the one that reminded the young healer much of the Captain of Fourth Squad, and said

"The gentleman has sent a note requesting my presence, I am quite aware of this. However, if Aizen's view of this world is so narrow that he thinks a mere note delivered by a minion is sufficient to make a woman hurry in her ablutions then it is clearly my duty to educate him in this grievous lack of information in this area."

Orihime and Rukia looked at her, wide-eyed. Isana calmly combed her hair and studied the two of them.

"It saddens me to see that the two of you have both clearly grown up without feminine guidance."

They looked back at her in perplexity. Isana gestured to the elaborately carved, multi-leveled set of make-up boxes and jewelry chests that she was seated next to. The set was carved with the ubiquitous dragon and phoenix.

"The dragon and the phoenix are the symbols of emperor and empress, yin and yang, of conflict and marital bliss," she began. "They are opposites, yet equals. The reason why the represent conflict as well as marital bliss is because they are equals. It is sad to state out loud this observation but marriage, no matter how harmonious, always contains a small, subtle struggle for power in it if it is a marriage between equals. As to this, never underestimate the often overlooked, even mocked, power of subtle feminine beauty. It may not be a great power, not like swords or spiritual arts, but the ability to make your enemy underestimate you is useful. In a situation such as we find ourselves in, it is the subtlety that is our greatest strength. You will note that I am currently carefully applying my make-up, the purpose of this is multi-layered."

"Oh?" Rukia asked, intrigued in spite of herself.

After she had been brought into a noble house she had been made to learn all sort of things about femininity that she had never really believed to have any real use at all, other than to make her ornamental. She had only learned them (partly begrudgingly) in order to not embarrass the House that had taken her in.

"In this context, my care with my appearance serves many functions. First and foremost, it is practical in that when one goes before a person who has great power, looking presentable puts them on more even footing. Second, the act of applying the make-up is like preparation for battle, it allows me to gather my thoughts and compose my mind, it is a peaceful moment allowing me time to reflect and consider my options. A zen-moment if you will. Third, the time I take to care for my appearance is a small, but meaningful, display of power."

At the two young ladies (who clearly still had much to learn) look of perplexity, Hisana explained

"He requested my appearance quite abruptly with the intention of throwing me off center and making me ill-prepared. That take extra time I make myself presentable to him to a social nicety that he cannot afford to ignore if he wishes to continue to present himself well, thus the fact that he awaits me at my own leisure, so long as I do not drag the moment out overly long, is my slight ability to make him dance to my tune. The timing must be right of course, but a lady gets a sense of these things over time. He will attempt to intimidate my with a display of wealth or power, but because I am armored and prepared I will not loose myself to it. Additionally, he is testing me as I am testing him. Think of us as two fencers who are circling each other, this is the way we get a measure of each other before either of us must commit to a move. Lastly, and this is also very important, the fact that I concern myself with appearance fulfills his expectation of me, to fulfill his expectation of me means that he has a role mapped out in his mind for me, the fact that he has a role mapped out in his mind for me means that he has an intention or a strategy to use me in and a way he plans to go about it; if I conform to the role he has planned out in his mind that will eventually grant me more freedom to act outside of his will without his knowing because...?"

Hisana left the sentence dangling for her two young pupils to grasp.

"If he thinks he knows you," Rukia started.

"He'll underestimate you," Orihime finished.

"Just so," Hisana smiled indulgently as she tucked the two communications devices in a safe and unnoticable place for her to secret to Byakuya later on.

* * *

:_I think the assessment of the usurper actually feeling unsettled and off-kilter about his plans failure and his sudden need to retreat and regroup is an accurate one after all_,: Hisana thought to herself when the little Shadow that had come to the prisoners room this morning to escort her away finished leading her to her destination.

Sousuke Aizen sat on a throne of solid gold studded with gemstones that was almost continental in its proportions. The throne was carved to look like four animals mingled together. The base was a tortoise ringed with several serpents forming the legs of the base. A long, sinuous, serpentine dragon formed the back of the chair, its scales glittered with blue-green diamonds. The arm-rests were twin white tigers with flaming amber eyes, each with a ruby the size of a chickens egg lodged in their jaws. Forming a cover overhead with a phoenix with a fanned tail, feathers glinting rubies on every inch. The whole thing rested on a dais formed of several slabs of gilded jade. The room she was brought to was a room the same way the inside of the pantheon was a room, it even had a domed cathedral ceiling and the floor was an intricate glass mosaic like a church window, the light shining up from under the floor played a shadow play on the dome of the cathedral filling the room with color.

:_He's gone to some trouble to have me brought into this massive place and himself being put on high, why does he feel he needs to impress me so much I wonder_,: Hisana thought to herself.

"As per our agreement, Lady Hisana, you have been reunited with your son, I hope he is in excellent health," the man who would be king said in an urbane, gentlemanly tone.

"No thanks to you and your Shadows kidnapping him in the first place, " Hisana replied matching his tone of civility with a demurely feminine one of her own.

"Leave it not be said that your recent ordeals have robbed you of your spirit," he acknowledged. "And your dear sister Rukia is well also?"

"She seems quite recovered from your attempt to have her executed," Hisana said, trading overly polite barbs with him.

"Speaking of which there are some words that I could like to have with Lord Kuchiki at my gracious host's earliest convenience."

"I am always pleased to accommodate a guest of such entertaining conversation," he replied with a gracious inclination of his head. "In return I fear I must part you and your son for a small while longer. I will leave the boy in the care of your sister, it is only proper after all that family look out for each other. I must request that you remain by my side for some small time."

"And why is this?" Hisana questioned curiously. "Surely out of all of your guests, invited or otherwise, I am the one you have least to fear from. Lord Kuchiki bides under suppression stone, unable to move against you. Renji has joined your side. Rukia and Orihime cannot move against you. I am only one woman, and an ordinary Human at that. I have no zanpaktou to fight with, no spiritual pressure of any note, no Soul Reaping form, certainly there is nothing about me to inspire caution."

"Correct, but you see it is because you have no offensive capability that you are much more valuable as a hostage than any other. You are a lynchpin, not a dominant personality nor even an overly strong one in the conventional sense, but you are pivotal. The fact that you are quite the most vulnerable peice on the board is very much to my advantage."

"I see your point. It seems I am left with no other options but cooperation, but I want it noted that this is under protest."

"Noted," he said indulgently. "I suppose you must wish to visit with your husband after so long a time of separation I will escort you there."

"You are all graciousness," Hisana said politely.

Aizen rose from his throne and paced elegantly down the steps, every movement he made bespeaking his absolute confidence of his mastery there in his own stronghold. Hisana quite obediently took his arm when he signaled that she should, allowing him his little display of possessive power.

She had not yet begun to fight.

* * *

**I had the ending all planned out, but it was one of those things where every time i went to write it, it just didn't flow quite right. I couldn't quite place my finger on what it was that was bothering me. usually a block like this has to do with my characterization skills but it seemed on re-read that Renji, Rukia, Byakuya and Hisana were all okay (and orihime too) so I couldn't figure out where the problem was. It wasn't until I actually sat myself down and made myself start writing what I'd planned to write, _then_ went back to what I'd written earlier and re-read it that I saw where the hiccup was. Aizen. His speech and mannerisms were in character... his obliviousness was not. That, and I had written in that he had returned Hisana's memories but I was never able to come up with an explanation as to why )and "because i wanted him to" just doesn't seem like it should fly!) I'll see you with another chapter next week, ciao! **

**Thanks again to all of the wonderful reveiws I've received from everyone and all of those who had supported my story thus far, you are all the best and I'm sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out! You guys are the reason why I was able to get over this block so thank you again. Until next week!  
**

**~Nightheart.  
**


	79. Two or More Heads are Better Than One

Byakuya Kuchiki wailted with calm patience in his cell. If being surrounded by so much sekki seki stone bothered him, one would never know it to look at him. He appeared as perfectly at ease as if he were in his garden at his home estate. The door to his prison opened revealing his enemy with his arm threaded through that of his wife, holding her possessively close. The only ripple that appeared on the still pond of Captain Kuchiki's calm was a slight twitch in his sword hand.

"Good afternoon, Captain," Aizen greeted him with perfect aplomb. "Your lovely wife has requested a visit with you. Far be it from me to deny anything to such a perfect blossom. As you can see, I have brought the lady by her request. I trust I do not have to inform you of any possible reprecussions should you decide to attempt an escape with her."

Byakuya Kuchiki, for his part, utterly ignored the fly buzzing near his wife, and rose like a gentleman to make room for her on the only flat surface in his room.

"I'll just leave you to visit then," Aizen said, releasing Hisana to enter the room properly.

If Byakuya had ever allowed himself the luxury of imagining a reunion with his wife, their present circumstances would have featured nowhere in any of his imaginings. Still, she was there, and though it would never do to betray it on the srface, especially when watched by enemies for the least weakness, his heart was pounding in a way that had not happened in decades.

"Are you well?" he inquired, his gaze rivited on her as she seated herself with every bit of the grace and poise he remembered.

"Quite well," she assured him. "Rukia and the Inoue girl seem fine also. And my son... well, I will have words with Aizen about him shortly."

Byakuya felt a whole new stab in his gut at the reminder. She was mortal now, with a child of her own. To have come so close to her, close enough to touch, but to still be denied the only thing in this world that he, with all of his wealth and power, ever desired for himself. Fates was truly cruel.

"You are... married," he said. He could not manage to control his tone entirely but he found his heart lifting as his wife smiled softly and gently shook her head.

"I am not. It is something of a family secret and I trust you will not discuss the matter elsewhere, but my son is actually my nephew. I had a cousin who had been a sister to me in this life, but she died during childbirth, bringing Alexander into this world. On her death, I took over the role of his mother in her place and have raised him as my own. Alex is my son in every way that matters. The father has never been a feature in his life. I am not entirely certain that the name she gave for the birth certificate was even his real name at all. I've never met him."

Hisana shook her head sadly that there should be such a person in the world, but such was the way of things.

"It feels a bit odd to have the memories of two lifetimes melded together, but I must tell you how grateful I am that you fulfilled what I could not do. Thank-you Byakuya."

His wife bowed her head humbly and it was too much for him. He knelt beside her. She was the only person in this world or any other who could make him willingly touch a knee to the ground, her humility and willing sacrifice had always humbled him in ways that nothing else ever could. He caught his hands in hers and looked up tenderly into her face.

"If you remember then you know that I would move Heaven and Earth for you," he said sincerely. "There is no law that exists in this or any world that I will not set aside for your sake."

His wife smiled softly at him and reached a hand up to brush his hair back by his ear, nudging the kenseikan there a little bit. A second later she pressed at it again and he heard a very very soft click. Suprised he looked a question at her and she smiled again, this time with a slightly conspirational look.

"Then when the time is right, make sure you're ready," she said, as if in reply to his previous statement but the direct look in her eye said that she was also saying something else.

Byakuya nodded. A moment later, two more of those Shadow-guards showed up to escort her away. It was perhaps one of the more difficult things he's had to do in his life, letting her go without a struggle. He had understood her perfectly, they were to bide their time and wait. As the door was shut softly behind her, Byakuya was left alone in his empty cell.

:Captain?: the half-hopeful, half-fearful voice of his lieutenant stole softly into the surface of his thoughts. It wasn't even a sound, more like a sense to him, and he could feel the traces of Renji's reiatsu on the edge of his senses.

:Captain, is that you?: the voice asked again, sounding a bit like a child who had woken up alone, calling out to see if anyone is there.

:Abarai,: he ackowledged dryly.

:I am I ever glad to get a hold of you!: Renji said. Byakuya could feel his relief echoing through the link.

:There is much to discuss,: Byakuya agreed. :Starting with how it is that the fact you've been traveling across the divine realms with my wife somehow never made it into any of the reports you've sent back.:

He hoped Renji could sense how very irritated he was by that.

:All the things we've got to cover and you pick that?: Abarai replied. Captain Kuchiki was a little more irritaded to discover that Renji felt it was a non-issue, however, weighing it against everything else swirling around them, he had to grant that the lieutenant was not entirely incorrect about its relative importance.

:We can table that for later and you can beat the crap out of me however you want,: Renji said.

Internally Captain Kuchiki shook his head at that. There were many times when he thought that the Eleventh Squad still had to strong a hold over him. If a person had a problem with another person, they simply beat on each other until the issue was resolved... or they were both to beaten in to continue fighting.

:I will remind you that the motto of Sixth Squad is Noble Reason, lieutenant. As such, I would very much like to hear yours.:

Renji sighed a bit internally, but mentally ticked them off, just to keep his captain happy.

:Well, if I had told you I'd found her, you would've ordered me back to Seireitei no matter what the rules about mortals popping in for a visit were. At the time I had to catch a Shadow before I could return so that I could show everyone that it was a real threat and not something I'd made up. Missy there was the only person who had the stuff to trap one, so I needed her with me. She had to find her son and I was the only way to do it, plus she also had that geas on me. I had no way of knowing that if you pulled me back in, the rest of Seireitei wasn't just going to simply things by putting my head on the block, and I was more worried about that Shadow threat and what, or who, might be behind it. My instincts told me it was bad medicine.:

Byakuya carefully weighed his lieutenants reasoning for a very long, tense moment, then very reluctantly had to admit to himself that the situation was both complicated and unprecedented. Given all of the matters on the board, Renji had tried to act in th better interests of his squadron. Still...

:Is there anything else you want to tell me before we proceed with the debreifing?: Captain Kuchiki asked with belabored patience.

:Ummmm... Welllll...: Renji said reluctantly. :Zabimaru and I continued our training together, and now we've got an ace or two up our sleeves. Our reiatsu's unbound. Zabimaru has a second form and it's awesome! Your wife can summon elemental spirits who have made a contract with her and use their powers, as well as trap and bind Shadows. Oh! And uh, there's one other thing she can do but I can't tell you what it is because it's less you'll have to cover up later.:

There was a long pause.

"Anything else?" his captain inquired.

:Sort of. You're not going to like it Captain,: Renji said. Captain Kuchiki go the sensation of a puppy who has piddled on the rug and is worried about the possibility of a rolled up newspaper now that his master is home.

:Proceed,: Captain Kuchiki said shortly.

:I've got a heartstone Captain,: he admitted. :Part of my reiatsu is being used to hold this Realm together cuz I actually managed to fight and defeat Katschei the Deathless.:

Renji went on to explain the anamoly to his captain.

:This Katschei guy was a mortal who managed to bypass the recycling of souls that goes on in Soul Society by trapping part of his spirit in a heartstone that acted as the keystone for this world. It not only sucked his soul back into it when his mortal body died, but also held this place together. Well when I finally managed to pass him on via soul burial, I had ta push his spirit out of the hearstone with my own, and when I sent him on to Soul Society with Zabimaru I guess the Realm needed some kind of spirit-will to keep it together so it decided to use mine. A peice of me got stuck inside it. The good news is that I gave it to Rukia and even if Aizen takes her somewhere else, We'll never loose her. The bad news is, if Aizen ever finds that heartstone, I'm in deep kimchee.:

:You took a very foolish risk, lieutenant,: Captain Kuchiki said severely.

Somehow he felt a bit of a headache coming on. There were times when Abarai had that effect on him.

:If he'd have found it on me the result probably would be the same. We'll just have to hope that Rukia can keep it hidden.:

:You entrusted it to my sister and not to Hisana?: he asked, a bit curiously.

:No offense, but yer wife's already got a geas on me that she's a bit too happy to tug on the leash of sometimes,: Renji said with what passed for diplomacy to him.

Byakuya Kuchiki was surprised to hear it. He had never encountered such a facet in his wife before, in fact, hen he had married her, she'd always been a bit too docile with regards to how she was treated by the rest of the House. She'd always said things like "it's alright, I can't expect them to accept me right away" or "it's a truth that they outrank me Byakuya-sama, you can't expect them to act like they don't," or "Your feelings for me and mine for you are what matter, whatever theirs are about the situation does not change it."

:I've found Aizen's hearstone,: Renji offered. :But I can't move it without him noticing. If we kill him he'll just be reborn, like Katchei, and pop up to haunt us again later. If we don't stop him here we probably won't get another chance. I'm free to move around without causing too much suspicion and the ladies, it turns out have thier own means of finding things out. Aizen left them with some kind of mirror that shows them things, creepy thing but those three are clever, I don't doubt they'll find a way to turn it to thier advantage.:

:In other words, the two of us must not count out thier resourcefulness.:

:Yer wife gotcha that com-device didn't she? I keep telling you girls are scary, especially those ones.:

:I do not disagree Lieutenant, but please do not insinuate that my wife is fearsome. She is a very warm and elegant woman,: Byakuya Kuchiki corrected him firmly.

:So's Captain Unohana, sir, but that doesn't mean she ain't scary too,: Renji replied. :So... what's yer plan Captain?:

Captain Kuchiki wondered if he should be proud or worried that Renji had made the statement with the all encompassing faith that somehow his Captain had a plan that was going to be able to let them win though victoriously.

:You've gone out of your way to point out that the resourcefulness of the ladies is not to be discounted, perhaps it were best we brought them in on the situation, it may be that they have access to information that you and I are unaware of.:

:Yeah, if nuthin; else, Aizen loves a captive audience, no pun intended,: Renji agreed. :It wouldn't surprise me a bit if he was blabbing his whole master plan to the mortal missy, er, I mean yer wife Captain.:

:Would that it should be so easy,: Captain Kuchiki agreed as he sent out a questioning thought to his sister. A moment later he felt her spiritual pressure linked in with his and Renji's.

:This is Rukia Kuchiki, signing in!: Her tone was a bit gloating as if she were saying "here we come to save the day!"

* * *

**This was originally one long chapter, but I felt it would be better off divided in two so look forward to more in a few days!**


	80. Pheonix Rising

:This is Rukia Kuchiki, signing in!: Rukia's voice said.

:Hey! How did you get on this line?: Renji asked, sounding almost indignant.

:Duh, dummy,: Rukia said rudely back at him. :We three ladies are the one's who found the com-devices in the first place!:

:Brat,: Renji replied.

:Idiot,: Rukia said, just as kindly back at him.

:At least I can move around, you're stuck there,: he taunted back at her.

:Shows what _you_ know,: Rukis taunted back. :It just so happens that we can move anywhere we want, any time we want, so there!:

:Yeah, because of _me_,: Renji pointed out. :If I hadn't given you my heartstone you'd be stuck there like a real prisoner.:

:Children!: Byakuya all but snapped in exasperation. :Will I need to separate you two?:

:She started it,: Renji grumbled.

:Did not,: Rukia contended.

The Head of the House and Captain of Squad Six Captain mentally counted to ten. The two of them apparently caught it and both silenced themselves, though Byakuya had a sneaking suspicion that if they had been in the same room together the two of them would have been trying to make faces at each other when they thought big brother wasn't watching.

:Well whatever, and just so you know, Orihime and I have that Aizen thing taken care of,: Rukkia bragged. :We've found away to open a Gate to the outside dimensions. We can just bring Ichigo and the others here and let them go at him. With you, me and Elder Brother joining in, and him having to fight us all at once, plus Urahara and Yoruichi if they decide to show up, there's no way we won't win!:

:Oh yeah, _real_ brilliant plan there maestro,: Renji said sarcastically. :Except yer forgettin' one thing... Freakstorm that the kid's reiatsu is, it's not going ta do a lick o' good against Aizen's new army. Zanpaktou are one hundred percent _useless_ against the Believed. You need a weapon that fights with the fifth element in order to take those things down. If you can't find a Quincy then Isana's binding spell is our only hope, and I was sorta thinkin' of keeping her as an ace in the hole. She's not exactly frontline material.:

:If Zanpaktou are not effective against Shadows,: Rukia said. :Then that means you, me and my brother are-:

:Up shit creek without a paddle,: Renji confirmed for her.

:Well...: Rukia said, her earlier smugness deflated. :What happens when you destroy Aizen's heartstone? Does it break his power?:

:It'd be great if it were that easy,: Renji replied. :Destroying his heartstone will only do two things; one, it'll stop him from bypassing reincarnation again, and two, it'll tip our hand and he'll be on to us. We have to time it just right.:

Byakuya was a little annoyed that the two of them had waylaid his debriefing and gotten ahead of themselves. Information first, _then_ strategy.

:Rukia. Abarai,: he said with enough mild sharpness to get their attention. :Strategy comes _after_ information. I still require a formal debriefing of my lieutenant and _you_, younger sibling, must patiently wait your turn.:

Byakuya could all but _feel_ Renji's insulted scowl on her behalf, but in this occasion Byakuya overlooked it since it wasn't something his lieutenant could hide behind his stoic mask as he usually did.

:Abarai, continue,: Byakuya commanded.

Renji filled him in on what information he had gathered since his last report, about Aizen's plan involving heartstones, and Quincy and Shadows, as well as his thoughts on what the devious schemer might be plotting next. Next Byakuya commanded a report from his sister Rukia (deciding for the moment that since they were all in the same boat essentially, she would be temporarily under his command as the ranking officer in the field).

:I have a contribution to the discussion,: Isana said.

Their three-way tete-a-tete was joined quickly by a fourth member, when they felt the spiritual energy of Isana join the link.

:Are you sure you should be on this thing?: Renji said nervously. :Aizen's got you in his shadow, no pun intended, he might be able to detect you using the link somehow. If he does then there's a possibility that the jig'll be up _real_ quick. He'll want to know where you got the link-thingy.:

:He has other matters on his mind, and he has already dismissed me as a being useful but harmless,: Isana replied. :He's paying no closer attention to me than he would to furniture.:

:If escape is possible for you, then you must take your child and the other mortal and leave this place,: Byakuya commanded his mortal wife.

:I will do no such thing,: Isana replied. :You are powerless against the Shadows, I am the only one currently in this Realm with the means to fight and defeat them. Except... perhaps...:

Isana trailed off thoughtfully.

:It is quite possible that Orihime's abilities might be able to unmake the heartstone.:

:If that is the case then we have two women who are able to fight the Shadows instead of just one,: Byakuya said firmly, accepting the necessity of extenuating circumstances and showing an adaptability that Renji had never suspected of him.

:Aizen must be defeated here, before he has a chance to spread his influence across the Divine Realms and his army grows legion,: Captain Kuchiki said, by way of explanation. :If handled carefully, and with the element of surprise on our side, it is not inconceivable that we should be able to strike preemptively and handle the matter.:

:I kinda think I got a bit of a thought on how ta beat 'im,: Renji said hesitantly. :Well, actually it won't _truly_ defeat him, but I can guarantee it'll distract him long enough for us ta maybe neutralize 'im somehow.:

:How so?:

:I kinda can't really say out loud sir,: Renji said, cringing inwardly. :But Missy, it's about that thing that time. You know, when the kitty goaded you on and I was pissed off fer days?:

Isana clearly had to translate the reference for a minute, then comprehension flooded the link.

:Oohh, _that_ thing,: she said.

:Yeah, and his is called Kyouka Suigetsu.:

:What does Aizen's zanpaktou have to do with anything?: Rukia asked.

:I can't tell you that,: Renji said. :Less you'll have ta lie about later.:

Byakuya considered letting the matter stand, however, he simply could not bear the thought of Renji knowing his wife better than he himself did, no matter what incarnation she was in. No, such a situation was intolerable. If it meant breaking the rules without being able to claim plausible deniability later, then that was something he was prepared to do.

:I have stated previously that there exists no law that I will not set aside for your sake,: Byakuya said. :In this situation the time for half-truths and dissembling in order to protect my noble integrity, while admirable, is unnecessary. I am prepared to face official censure but I must have all of the facts we know at hand.:

:So we should tell him, Renji?: Isana asked.

Byakuya was irked that she checked with him first.

:You heard the man, he said he's willing to shoulder it. Might as well lay yer cards on the table.:

:Yours too. I know you haven't told him about your Zabimaru,: she chided.

:I was getting to that,: Renji mumbled defensively.

:Anyway. Aside of being able to make summoning contracts with elemental spirits, I am sure you are aware that I can bind Shadows by the heartstone. What we have been avoiding revealing, probably for obvious reasons, is that my ability to bind spirits does not end there. We've discovered that it is possible for me to bind Zanpaktou spirits as well, though, the effect it has on that zanpaktou's wielder is...:

:It turned me Hollow, sir,: Renji said, cutting right to the chase. :Her binding spell cuts you off from your zanpaktou and your reiatsu floods up an' makes you go berzerk. It's _awful_.:

Everyone sensed the underlying horror that still flooded Renji's soul at the memory of what it had felt like to be cut of from his precious Zabimaru. Part of that might have been due to Renji's unusual closeness with his Zanpaktou, but there was no mistaking that even the memory of what it had been like was a terrible one for him, and one he was not eagre to repeat ever again. Following quickly on that was a feeling from Hisana of deep mortification for harming someone who had never shown her anything but kindness.

Ignoring the emotional by-play, Byakuya took a long moment to absorb the implications of that information. If a mortal, albeit one with awakened spiritual powers, could do such a thing, Seireitei would never let it stand. To say that Zanpaktou were to important to the Soul Reapers was a lot like saying the ocean was wet, it fit but couldn'r even begin to cover the magnitude of it. If a way was discovered to cut off their bond and seal away the purifying blade, it could shake the very foundations of Seireitei. There was no way they would allow Isana to continue her existence unmolested. It was far more likely they would choose to quietly remove the possible threat.

:I understand why you would be wary of revealing such information to me,: Byakuya said carefully into the tense silence that followed their revelation. :Every Law in Seireitei commands that such a potential threat must be dealt with immediately.:

He felt the upwelling of protest through the link and cut it off.

:However. I will not act hastily, and I do not believe that in her hands this binding spell she wields is any threat to Seireitei. The Head Captain does not need to know of this. Understood?:

:Sir!: Renji and Rukia replied crisply.

:In our current situation,: he said after a long thoughtful pause. :It would be a great advantage.:

:It's a real game-changer,: Renji agreed.

:Quite. However, all of the strategies you have brought up have only offered ways to neutralize Aizen, rather than truly defeat him. The destruction of his heartstone will make it so that he cannot simply transport his soul to another body. Binding his zanpaktou will only distract him rather than defeat him.:

:Once he turns Hollow though, he'll be too busy gettin' his own self sorted out ta have a whole lot o' time fer payin' attention to what's goin' on around him,: Renji suggested. :Once he's Hollow any zanpaktou'll take him out, so we just need ta strike while the iron is hot.:

:Then it seems we have our strategy,: Captain Kuchiki said. :This will have to be done when myself, Abarai and Hisana are all in the same room.:

:Hey, what about me?: Rukia demanded, miffed at being left out.

:You have an alternate, but no less important job. :You and the mortal girl will have deal with Aizen's heartstone. It would be foolish if we mistakenly thought we had defeated him, only to discover that he had dropped his tail in the fashion of a lizard.:

:Yeah Ruks, you were always good at the sneaky stuff,: Renji encouraged her.

:Part of the agreement that Abarai made with Aizen in order to remain as his new adjutant was that he would be allowed the opportunity to fight me in single combat,: Byakuya said. :When that moment occurs You Hisana will no doubt be made to watch if only because he considers you a useful hostage. This will quite neatly put us into place. Abarai and I will stage a fight.:

:But we're gonna make it a good one, right Captain? He won't buy it unless we're goin' all out, right?:

Hisana, Rukia and Byakuya all caught Renji's eagreness to test himself against his Captain's strength and see how far he had advanced since his bankai training had started.

:Same old Renji,: Rukia said wryly. :I swear you never change!:

:Priorities Abarai,: Byakuya admonished him lightly. :Your zeal for improvement, while commendable, should have its appropriate time and place. For now, we must concentrate on the mission. We will stage a good show but it will not be a battle to the death.:

:Won't he be able to tell if we pull our blows?:

:Then stall the matter with your usual jabber,: Byakuya said with belabored patience. :It never seems to be a fight with you if you don't spend half of the first round working your mouth about your newest move before you use it.:

:But I do have a kinda cool new move I wanna try out on ya,: Renji said eagerly.

Byakuya restrained a sigh.

:As I was _saying_,: he returned the discussion back where it belonged. :Abarai and I will fight for Aizen's benefit. While he is concentrating on our new fight, Hisana you will prpare your binding spell. Once it is prepared signal us by subtly placing your palms together. At that exact moment Abarai, you and I will turn as one and attack Aizen, just long enough to distract him and for Hisana to release her spell. We shall hold nothing back, if you have any greater or more powerful techniques you have picked up, that will be the time to use them.:

:Understood, Captain,: Renji said.

:While that is going on,: Byakuya continued. :Rukia will take the mortal girl to where Aizen has hidden his heartstone and destroy it. Once Aizen's zanpaktou is taken out of the equation and he is distracted by his own hollowfication, we will move in on him. Strike as hard and fast as you can before he has a chance to recover himself. That is the mission parameters, are there any questions?:

Various negatives were replied, some of them ending with "sir" and one with a wifely "dear".

:Dismissed.:

Captain Kuchiki felt Renji and Rukia's presences fade from the link as they switched off thier units though he didn't doubt they were still arguing with each other over something privately, his wife's presence however remained securely on the line.

:I suppose it should feel strange to call you my dear husband, since in this lifetime I had only met you a brief time ago,: she said quietly over the link. :But to me it feels as natural as breathing.:

:I have missed you,: he said.

Missed was perhaps the understatement of the century. His feelings for her had not faded in even the smallest measure from what they had been on the day that he had wed her. Even worse than that, he had been continually tortured by the face of his beloved on the body of a stranger. He had mistakenly felt that that same stranger had robbed him of his wife's attention while she had been with him, and it was only nearly losing her and breaking his vow to his wife that managed to correct his way of thinking. When he had lost Hisana he had felt the same as a sailor who had managed to weather a storm but had come out of it without stars in his sky or a compass to point the way home, lost and directionless, adrift without any real hope of finding his equilibrium again. As bad as the circumstances were, he would have gladly fought Aizen a hundred times without a single hope for victory, been torn limb from limb or cast into the depths of Hueco Mundo if it would have resulted in his being reunited with his beloved once more.

:It saddens me that I am unable to say the same,: Hisana replied honestly. :The reincarnation erased all of my memories of who I was and what had been important to me in my previous life. I do know that my dreams for our future when I paid my debt to my past included many children and long days of happiness.:

:Many children?: he questioned, a little surprised.

This was the first that he had heard of it. His kind and gentle wife had been of a nurturing nature, but despite pressure from his elders (and his own private wishes), Byakuya had refused to force her to remain at home and concentrate her energies on begetting an heir. He had married a wife, not acquired a concubine, and that had been his feeling on the matter. If that wife had felt that her duty to her blood must be honorably redressed before she could take up her other duties, then as her husband it fell to him to support her in that.

:I'd had dreams for the life I would be able to give you after I found Rukia,: she told him. :Plans to repay your love and kindness in full that never got to see the day they could become reality. Perhaps it was the universe's way of redressing the balance of my undeserved good fortune in loving you and having your love in return.:

:Then... may it be that the day will come.:

Byakuya knew then and there that there was no space of time, be it ever so infinite, that he would not wait until the day their souls would be reunited once more. Many who knew of his lieutenant's feelings for Rukia and his determination to defeat his captain because of them found him admirable for his fortitude, but in truth his patience paled in comparison to that of Byakuya Kuchiki. As hard as Abarai had trained, and as patiently as he had bided his time, he had done all of this with the very real hope of his feelings one day being requited. Byakuya Kuchiki on the other hand, loved deeply and all-consumingly, long after all hope was gone. To have that hope suddenly restored to him filled hollows in his soul he had not realized were empty. Where his world had been filled with only the cold consolation of duty, there was now a sunrise in the shape of the word "someday" and oasis of hope in the desert of despair. They would come out of this, he was determined that it should be so, no matter what obstacle stood in their way, Byakuya would allow no other outcome than this. Ten thousand whispers rose in chorus in his soul, the song of their being resonating with his resolve. They would slice through anything that stood in thier path. He would not loose her a second time, he would reclaim his wife and he would keep her safe.

:Until that day, my heart is yours, always and forever,: Hisana promised.


	81. Sisterly Discussion

"Are you still arguing with Abarai-san?" Orihime asked curiously.

"Stupid Renji," Rukia growled. "He thinks that just because he's a big bad lieutenant with a big bad bankai that he can treat me like I'm some no-rank Reaper in his Squad! It seriously makes me mad!"

"But..." Orihime said hesitantly. "Didn't Isana-san say that he's been getting even stronger?"

Rukia's scowl deepened at the reminder. It was the last conversation they'd had together before Aizen had fetched her new older sister away for her conjugal visit. She and her sister been angry together about Renji's shenanigans with the bunny girls, although Rukia had gotten the odd feeling that Isana had found it oddly amusing rather than offensive. After they'd gotten off the link with Renji after scolding him and then being scolded by him (about thier invading his privacy) Hisana had chuckled a little ruefully, almost to herself, it had seemed.

"I didn't show you our journey together just so we could spy on Lieutenant Abarai.. though it does sort of seem that it worked out that way," Hisana had said to Rukia with a serious look on her face. "I wanted you to see for yourself the sort of man your childhood friend has become."

"A philandering jerk?" Rukia had suggested flippantly, still angry at her discovery.

"A good man, that, when faced with choices that aren't always the easiest ones to make, will always, always do his very best for the people around him," Hisana corrected gently.

Rukia had scowled mulishly, unwilling to cede the point, even though she knew the truth of her elder sisters words perfectly well for herself.

"When he was turned mortal, Renji could have gone to either your friend Urahara or his own superiors to try to fix his situation, but he knew that while he did so a potential enemy to the Seireitei he serves would be allowed to move in the shadows. Renji chose to do the harder thing, took his troubles in his own hands and tracked his quarry no matter how far it took him."

"Renji's just stubborn that way!" Rukia had argued.

"And when he was faced with me, and all my... well," Hisana had sighed a little sadly. "I suppose I'll have to fully own up to my flaws. My own behaviour in all of this has been less than exemplary in a lot of ways. I- There are just times..." she had paused then continued.

"I've been on my own for so long," she'd explained. "And I've been carrying a burden that hasn't always been easy for me, though I do not see my son as such. Even so, there are times when its hard, and I get lonely. Instead of asking for help from him, help that I see now would have been freely given, I coerced him with magic. That's... terrible of me, looking back on it. I regret that, and I hope I will have the chance to make it right in the future."

"Well, you did do a lot of things that should rightly piss him off," Rukia had replied in agreement.

And it had been a true statement to make. Despite her mature stance on other things, there had been times when her older sister's behavior towards Renji had bordered on childish. Making him carry her around, then scolding him when he did it wrong, or the time she'd tried to make him wear her favor for the tourney.

"I wonder now how he put up with me. And why," Isana had admitted.

"That's how Renji is," Rukia had informed her. "He's always been kind of a team player and he has a soft spot for those who can't quite take care of themselves all the way. I mean, ever since we were little, he's cared about the people around him. There's nothing he wouldn't do for his friends, or his squad... or me. He faced a court martial and execution to try to help me when I got into trouble, even after we hadn't spoken for decades on end. Renji, that stubborn idiot, even went up against my brother, probably knowing it was a fight he couldn't win, but he did it anyway because..."

"Because he feels that you're something worth fighting for Rukia," Hisana had said gently. "To tell you the truth I'm a little envious of you. Well, maybe not so much now that I know about... about..."

Hisana had pinkened cutely, clearly the idea of being someone's beloved had clearly been a new one for her.

"I guess there's something about you he must have decided he couldn't walk away from," Rukia said, deciding not to tease Hisana about the man who loved her. "He acts tough, but he's a softie."

"You know the boy he was, and there's a lot of that boy still in there, but sometimes I think you let your memories of him blind you to the man he is now. A man, that, strictly between you and me, I would have made a play for if I'd had even half a chance."

Rukia had stared in shock, looking at her older sister like she'd grown a second head from her neck.

"You? Renji? Why?!" she had questioned aloud in disbelief.

"Are you kidding me?" Hisana had replied, as though she were the daft one. "First off, he's... well have you looked at him?"

"Yeah, his tattoos get funnier every time I see them," Rukia scoffed.

"You're still such a child," Hisana had shaken her head, as though in mock pity. "But aside from that, he's stong, and kind, and generous. And have you seen him fight?"

"I've seen him get his face pounded in," she'd said, a bit relishingly.

"And so you've also seen him pick himself up off the ground afterward and go at it again. Probably to eventually win some sort of victory. He takes a lickin' and keeps on kickin' that man does. And besides... I've seen him excesize with his shirt off. It's been the highlight of my day for the last few weeks!"

"And you, a _married_ woman!" Rukia had said, scandalized (and a little weirded out that someone, much less her older sister, would look at her childhood friend and think he was attractive instead of... just Renji).

"I'm not dead yet, little sister," had been her humorous response. "But more seriously now. Renji's not just good looking on the outside."

"Minus the tattoos," Rukia had interjected.

"Frosting on the cake of yum I say," Hisana had rebutted. "And he's also strong on the inside as well. Trust me when I say that this isn't always the case, especially with men from his background. You both grew up on the streets and in a rough part of town, it would have been very easy for him to have given into the violence and chaos around him and become part of it. Easier than resisting I'd imagine."

The shrewd look her sister had given her had prompted Rukia to admit the truth in all honesty.

"When we were growing up, Renji took the occasional mercenary work for the bosses that ruled the streets around us, we could get food and water and blankets easier when he fought in rumbles. He was good enough to earn himself a reputation, and on the streets, a reputation's everything. He got offers from the people he worked freelance for too, some of them even really high up in the gang. He could have made a pretty comfortable life for himself if he'd taken any of them up, but he told me that the sorts of things that those men did would be betraying some part of him that was stronger than that."

"Well the boy who had enough strength to walk away from the violence has turned into a man that even your picky older brother finds worthy of relying on. Doesn't that tell you something?"

Rukia had wondered briefly then why it felt oddly like her older sister was trying to sell her on something, almost like a shady merchant trying to extol the virtues of their wares to a reluctant buyer.

"It tells me I have another reason to get jealous of him," Rukia had growled, obstinately refusing to surrender the field on this one. "Elder Brother thinks that _Renji_, of all people, is worth cultivating as his adjutant and yet Brother won't even let _me_ attend a meeting of the Noble Houses with him, not even in his shadow!"

Rukia felt that old jealous competitiveness rise up in her once more, irritating her all over again with the fact that her brother, the one bragging right she had in the now vastly uneven scales between herself and Renji, was showing preference for the enemy! Rukia's rank as a Kuchiki vastly outshone Renji's rank as a lieutenant in the Court Guard Squads, but he'd made himself. He'd clawed his way to the top using his own two hands, polishing himself and honing his and his zanpaktou's edge to such and extent that even her brother found him worthy to guard his back in battle. Rukia sniffled a little bit...

"What's the matter Rukia?" hisana had asked in concern. "Did I say something worng?"

"No," Rukia had said hoarsely.

Then everything came out in a rush, all the bottled up feelings of inadequacy and jealousy and longing she'd been carrying around inside of her all those years tumbled out of her mouth to the ears of a person that Rukia felt might just possibly be able to understand her.

"Everything you said is right, I just don't want to admit it. Renji is really powerful now, and the days when I could outdo him are long gone. The days when we used to walk side by side are... the way he is now, I'll never see those days again. I'll never catch up to him. My zanpaktou and I don't have the close relationship that Renji has with his Zabimaru, and I think part of that is because Renji just has a heart that loves more easily than mine. Either way, I'm just now on Third Dance and I've got a long way to go before I'm ready to even start thinking about bankai, or even an Officers Seat. All this time we've been separted, he's been growing stronger and making friends, and everyone likes him! He doesn't need me. He never has. In fact I'm probably just a burden to him. He probably only helped me because I'm like some kitten he took in out of the rain that he can't turn his back on when it's in trouble because that's the kind of guy Renji is. I mean, look at all he's done for you and he didn't even know you! You weren't childhood friends like we were and he still stuck his neck out for you and put up with all kinds of crap from you."

"Eh-heh-heh..." Hisana said uncomfortably. "That's true. I can't argue with that."

"So you see my point," Rukia had said. "If he'll go through all of that for a strange mortal woman he's never met before, then I guess that means that I don't mean as much to him as his actions had made me hope!"

"That's not true!" Hisana had exclaimed.

Her older sister had immediately snapped her jaw shut, looking away guiltily. Ruki had scented the proverbial blood in the water. Her older sister knew something, and she was holding out.

"How would you know?" Rukia had demanded suspiciously.

"I, uh, I don't," she'd stammered, clearly lying. "I'm not saying anything."

"Not saying something is different from not knowing something. What are you hiding?" Rukia had asked.

"no way, little sister, you're not dragging me into this. At least, not any farther than I already am. If you've got questions, you'd better take them up with him."

"Renji probably won't answer me honestly, you know," Rukia had pointed out bluntly.

"He's as honest as the day is long," Hisana had protested.

"About most things, yes," Rukia had agreed. "But he's also a typical Rukongai male, and all specimens of thier type have that tough-guy stoic, manly bluster ingrained into them at a young age. Getting him to talk about what bothering him, even if it's something minor, has always been like pulling teeth... from an octopus."

"Do octopi have teeth?"

"I duuno, but you get my point. Even if they don't the analogy still holds. Even if I tie him to the floor with bakudo and hold his zanpaktou for ransom, if Renji doesn't want to say anything, there's no force in this world that can make him."

"Sheesh, if this is how you go about it, no wonder your relationship's going no-where," Hisana had muttered, looking at her like she was hopeless. "Look, let me give you a little bit of elder-sisterly advice. With guys like him, they might not respond so well to blunt force trauma to the heart. They're straightforward about everything else in thier lives, but tend to be skittish in matters of romance."

"Romance?!" Rukia had asked, starting in surprise. "Who said anything about romance?"

"If you want him to come to you, you have to find a way to reassure him that it's safe to do so first."

"Come to me? I- I- I don't know what you're getting at. I don't want him to come to me!"

Hisana had looked at her with this flat sort of expression, reminiscent of Renji's face when Rukia was being her most childish.

"He's like a shy woodland creature," she'd went on, as though Rukia hadn't protested. "He needs to be coaxed. A better strategy would be to make the first move-"

"What move, there's no move happening here!" Rukia had exclaimed.

Orihime raised her hand, like a school girl asking her sensei a question.

"What sort of move won't scare him off, but likewise won't make him feel pressured?" she asked eagrely.

"An excellent question!" Hisana had said, now looking more than ever like a teacher. "Don't go for the usual gifts strategy, even if you don't mean it presents inevitably carry a sense of obligation. A better thing to do would be to give him your time. This way you not only show him how useful you are to have around, you also get to spend more time with him."

"What if you're not all that useful...?" Orihime had asked, deflating a bit.

"Confidence!" Hisana had said in a scolding tone. "No man worth his salt wants to be with a woman he's always having to reassure and coddle and hold her hand. If you have your doubts about yourself, don't let him see it all the time. A little vulnerability is cute because it makes a man feel strong and protective, but if you're always certain you're no good then he's not going to want to keep propping you up."

She'd turned to Rukia.

"But on the flip side of that, don't push it too hard either. You don't get confidence for yourself by making your partner feel inadequate. It's okay to tease him from time to time about his quirks, but don't rag him on all of his faults at every opportunity."

"But he has so many of them..." Rukia had muttered defensively.

Hisana, for all of her occassionally childish behaviour toward Renji was hitting uncomfortably close to the bone.

"Did he complain about me to you or something?" Rukia had demanded next. "And it's a little ironic that you're the one scolding me."

"I never claimed my behavior has been above reproach," Hisana had replied steadily. "But likewise when I am at fault, I make sure to acknowledge it and apologize properly. Look, Rukia. Renji entrusted his heartstone to you, and that shows an unbelievable amount of trust in you. I just don't want to see you both unhappy by an impulse on your part that might ruin a relationship that's managed to outlast decades of separation and still come out strong. Do you realize how rare that is?"

"Renji's renji. He always has been," rukia had scoffed a little. "A few decades here or there isn;t going to change that much. He's still the same idiot who's bad at kido that he's always been, that's why our friendship hasn't changed."

Hisana had sighed quietly, as though Rukia had missed the point entirely.

"Are you blind?" she'd asked bluntly. "Even his Zabimaru is different, or so I'm told."

"I don't need to be reminded about how much farther he's advanced in martial rank and power than me," Rukia grumbled. "I can see that for myself."

"Well if you're right and he really doesn't need you because he's so much stronger, doesn't it make more sense to say that there's a reason why your friendship is still so strong after spending so much time apart? Think about it. He's got a bankai, and a second zanpaktou form, and he's a lieutenant, and yet he chooses to spend his spare time hanging around you. Doesn't that tell you something?"

"Nope," Rukia said, mystified as to what her older sister might be getting at.

Orihime's face had brightened right up.

"Ooh! Oooh! I know, pick me!" she raised her arm excitedly.

Hisana had smiled gently and said

"I think this is the kind of realization she had better make for herself, otherwise, it's hopeless."

_:And now that idiot Renjiu is treating me like I'm some kind of junior member of his squad!:_ Rukia thought in mortal offense.

They'd gotten off the link with her older brother and her older sister and Rukia had been about to let him have it, but he'd gotten straight down to business. He'd actually gone over the mission parameters with her once again, carefully outlining what her brother most likely had in mind for her to do while Rukia's temper had simmered. When he'd asked her if she had any questions, as though it had been a perfectly normal mission breifing...

_:Well, a normal mission breifing in a squad that actually has a lieutenant...:_ she reconsidered.

Her own squad, Thirteenth, had done without a second in command for decades after the tragedy of Lieutenant Shiba's death. It had always been a mystery why her captain had not simply appointed a strong and promising ranked officer to the position as per the usual protocol. The other squads, she knew privately laughed at Thirteenth for it, and said that it was because the squad had not produced a Reaper strong enough to even try to compete on the same level as the rest of the lieutenants. Rukia wasn't certain she believed that particular nasty rumor.

_:Sure, Thirteenth is a little more laid back than all the rest of the squads...:_ she admitted.

Thier Captain was one of the strongest in all the squads, but his strength came and went as he was very sickly. She knew that there were some who even thought that he should be replaced by someone who was able to handle the duties of a Captain regularly, but she couldn't imagine thirteenth squad with anyone else at its head. They managed just fine without a lieutenant and with a Captain who wasn't always at his strongest. But being treated as a junior officer, and having a lieutenant breif her properly as Reaper protocol dictated had been a blast from the past certainly. She hadn't been properly beifed by an under officer since the days that Kaien-dono had been in the squad. The fact that it had been Renji doing the briefing had just made things all the more weird.

_:It's almost like he's a completely different person!:_ she marveled, not at all sure what to make if it.

Renji Abarai, her slightly goofy childhood friend, who hated spicy foods and couldn't swim, and was forever blowing himself up with kido. Who liked to hold massive parties with all of his friends in which there was drinking and merry-making, and music, and fighting and all sorts of carrying on. Who always seemed to get his face pounded in during a bad fight, but always got back in the ring again and kept right on swinging... He seemed like an entirley different person from Lieutenant Renji Abarai of Sixth Division. That Renji Abarai was focused on his work, conscientious of his position and the example he made for all officers under him, willing to use each of his squad members and thier abilities to the fullest in order to acheive the objectives his captain had set before him. He was serious and focused and detirmined that the faith his Captain showed in him would not be misplaced. He was strong to protect his junior officers, but likewise expected of them the same that he expected of himself, that they would give thier all in the tasks they had been given. He would see that Rukia and Orihime had and could use whatever tools they needed to see thier part of the mission fulfilled, and would help them as best he could.

_:I think I see now what my sister was trying to tell me before she left. The Renji I've always known is still in there, but he probably won't be joining me for a while. The person I'm expected to deal with right now is thie Lieutenant of Sixth Squad.:_

Oh, Renji had been his cocky, challenging and encouraging self. He'd expressed every faith that Rukia Kuchiki would be able to escort Orihime Inoue to the place where Aizen kept his heartstone, and would do it covertly and without being detected. And if she was detected, the Lieutenant would expect that she would put up an excellent fight to protect her charge while the mortal girl did what he had to do. His words had been full of encouragement and faith in her abilities, but likewise they had been the words a superior officer would give to a bright and promising junior officer. There had been an edge of familiarity to his tone, but that had been all that he'd allowed of thier normal relationship to seep through. Rukia had been so caught off guard that the questions she'd meant to ask him had not even appeared in her thoughts until after he'd already cut off the link after promising to buy her and Orihime some time and cause a great big distraction to buy them time.

Rukia didn't want to admit how nervous and scared she was for him. Aizen was not the sort of enemy who would let his opponent live afterward unless he had some use for that person. She dreaded to even try to imagine what he might have in store for Renji. He'd faced her brother and come out of it only barely alive, it was true that he'd gotten stronger since that day, but he was no-where near Aizen's level. If renji tried to take him on, he would die without question. Rukia was suddenly terrified she might loose him for good.

* * *

_:Whatcha think Zabs?:_ Renji asked.

Aizen had sent one of his shadelings to his new adjutant, summoning him to one of the chambers deep within the inner castle. Renji had the sneaking suspicion that Aizen had been using it as a laboratory and that whatever to sneaky Captain had in store, it was not going to be a pleasant surprise. Still, go he must. He had to buy as much time as possible, keep up the ruse of an obedient underling for as long as possible, in order for the rest of the team to get themselves into place.

_:I think we're in over our heads and sinking fast,:_ Snakey replied bluntly.

_:I concur,:_ Babs said in agreement.

_:You think Rukia's gonna be alright?:_ he asked.

He hadn't allowed himself to express how very terrified he was for her safety when he'd debreifed her. As a result he was a bit worried he might have come across cold and overly-formal, but falling back on formality and protocol had been the only way he'd been able to keep himself from begging her to cut out and run, just take a mirror-way to the room with the world gate in it and get the hell out of there before Aizen used her in some insane magical experiment. She was a soldier under his command, and the captain had given them both thier orders, it fell to him to put her in the right frame of mind to carry out those orders calmly and cofidently. So he'd treated her just as he would have any other junior officer, gone over every step of the mission carefully, covered the hows and wherefores, and encouraged her, expressed his faith and confidence in her abilities and reassured her that he would be working right alongside her in his own mission in order to relieve some of the pressure she was surely feeling.

_:Sode No Shiraiyuki's weilder has all the cool, icy calm the Sleeve of Snow can grant to her when she chooses to call upon it,:_ Babs replied judiciously.

_:Though, those two aren't really in synch so much so its anyone's guess if she can grasp that calm or not. If she's a jittery wreck, she'll have to find a way to pull through somehow,:_ Snakey said.

_:For now, we should concentrate on what lies ahead of us, and leave the others to their respective tasks in Captain Kuchiki's strategy.:_

_:I guess you're right,:_ Renji agreed reluctantly. _:There's nothing I can do for her right now, I've got my own task to deal with. I just hope Aizen doesn't throw a really big wrench in our plans.:_

* * *

**It liiiiives! Wow, i had all but given up on coming back and trying to finish this one off, but you guys were so supportive (persistant :) ) that I dipped a toe back in after all this time. I had actually become rather _intimidated_ by Chasing Shadows after a while. That three fourths part always gets me, where its endgame and I'm feeling the pressure and I cave like a half baked quiche and wander off to go do something else. But you all, with your kind praise made me get back in the ring and give it another swing and I guess it's not the scary monster it seems to be in my mind. This one goes out to my lovely, wonderful, supportive, persistant reveiwers... Kshadeslady, C2T2, War 90, Bloody Roses Arienya, Kuro Okami and anonymous Guest. Without you all, this chapter and the ones that will follow would seriously not exist. Thank you so much for making it not so scary. Kudos to you all.**


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